I've got about $525K in equity in the property, but lenders have told me that I cannot get a HELOC to access that equity for additional purchases because the duplex was financed as an investment - they have said TX law dictates that HELOC can only be used on primary residences.

You could house hack by purchasing a small multifamily with an FHA or conventional loan, reducing your living expenses while building equity.

Here in Florida there are some opportunities to purchase a brand new home, cash flow, and minimize your capital expenditures for quite a while.

Purchase price: $355,500 Cash invested: $75,000 Rental Property near community college What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

The only two ways to rectify this are (1) purchase the property far below market price or (2) significantly increase the property net income usually through some method of “repositioning”. 

I live in NJ but am looking to purchase an investment property in NY State.   

If I act as my own realtor and end up purchasing a property and receive a commission does the broker I'm affiliated with get a piece of that?

What type of property do you plan to purchase(Single, multi, commercial, etc) and where do you plan to buy it?

I have programs that require only 10% down for the purchase, and will finance 100% of the rehab.

We would prefer to jump into the market with a duplex, triplex or quad as our first purchase.