All the best, Steven  If you're going to do a partnership or even a joint venture agreement I would highly suggest using a competent lawyer to draft your business agreement.

Then rent the bigger home out using a property manager, allowing her to possibly cash flow and maintain that asset and let it continue to grow in value.Encourage her to consult with a CPA or tax attorney to explore the best strategy tailored to her situation.

I am also planning on using a property manager as I have an 8 - 5 full time job.

It would be a good idea to assess your tolerance to risk and then plan something like that, but using a heloc is going to be around 9-11% in this market so to pay something off with lower interest rate to borrow more might not make much sense.

@Patricia Steiner we were actually under contract and using a bridge loan.

Hello,I bought a Triplex in San Antonio using a VA loan. 

How does that process work with Auction.com using a hard money lender?

IF you have super strong income and you and have a lower 1st lien, lots of equity - MAYBE your best bet is using a local bank or CU to get most competitive HELOC inv terms.

The plan is to purchase a residential multifamily in the New Orleans or Baton Rouge area using a FHA loan.I'm currently in the research phase, listening to hours of Bigger Pockets podcasts and reading Real Estate Investing by Brandon Turner.

Quote from @Jaycee Greene: Assuming you pay asking price, I'd estimate the down payment for something like that using a hard money loan (HML) would be around 40% of the purchase price and your monthly payment would be $2,600 with an interest rate in the low 7% range (probably need a 700+ credit score to get that).