Quote from @Brandon Bell: I've owned a property for four years with a standard fixed-rate mortgage, and now I'm looking to convert it into a rental.

Navy Federal does HELOCs on investment properties…not sure if LLC is OK…and rates are in the 10.75% range for an investment HELOC in March of 2024.  

Conventional financing is a great place to start as the interest rates will be lower. 

I think this depends on your risk tolerance and your interest rate.  

This sudden jump in rates has not fully caught up with market cap rates yet since especially in the commercial and multifamily property markets, transactions typically take 6 months to transact, creating a lag effect between interest rates and market cap rates since interest rates adjust daily.

We raised $4.5 million in equity and got $4.5 million in fixed rate debt from Freddie Mac at a 5.85% rate.

You are likely overpaying by $5,000.Broker fee of $3,000 and Processing Fees of $2,000 seem out of place...but then again, i never used a broker to get a loan so I am not sure about that.If the broker was able to get you an interest rate or loan product that you wouldn't be able to find on the open market...its high, but likely fair.if you are getting a loan product that you could have gotten by going to a normal bank...seems high and unnecessary. 

In a climate like this with high rates, probably better to use a Heloc so you keep the lower rate of your 1st lien.

With me not being on the duplex as a co signer it is rasisijg the interest rate 2% higher than what the average rate is or has been going for.

1st step is to make sure that the electricity is rated for having electric heat by the electric company.