.- Generally landlord-friendly state, no rent control- Secure government jobs/contracts make the real estate market much more resilient to recessions / major corrections- 15-minute drive to the Capitol of the United States- 4 Seasons- 15-minute drive to Arlington, Virginia (Amazon Headquarters 2 ((2017 announced, 2030 is bringing 25,000 new high-paying    jobs to the area)), Boeing Headquarters (2022), Microsoft Headquarters (2021), CoStar Headquarters (2024), Bloomberg    Headquarters (2017 expanded), Deloitte, and the list goes on)Thesis:Although more companies continue to go back to the office, there will be a shift toward a good amount of workers being able to be in hybrid roles.

Here is my current situation - I can probably secure a personal loan for about 200k at around a 3-4% interest rate with a 5-year tenor.

For those looking to scale their portfolios, now might also be an excellent time to secure funding.

Depends who you ask and how secure you feel about your income On the one hand being debt free is great, but leverage allows us to build our wealth quicker.RE investors are notorious for being cash poor, so I would avoid thatIf youre able to comfortably save 100k a year and have enough reserves, I think buying leveraged properties is the best way to scale.You could kill two birds with one stone theoreticallyThey say paying an extra month a year towards principal saves you 7 years on a 30 year fixed mortgageUsing that logic you can add 2+ months a year on your primary, and buy 1 property a year and keep enough reserves. 

They made the bank think that Joe wouldhave to do the collections and secure the collateral.

Your data is also city wide and if you were to focus in on the lowest tier neighborhoods in these markets they tend to be the most stagnant and this is where many buyers who invest in the lower cost SFH home strategy focus their investments.

The premise proclaimed at the start of this thread is simply not supported by mathematics with the exception of the specific case where the interest rate on the HELoC/secure LoC is sufficiently lower than the rate being paid on the mortgage.

Secure the house immediately.

Why are there security concerns?

There is also the lending field which is quite lucrative if your more into financecommercial real estate if some day you want to be doing bigger deals and making 6 figure commissions checks.. etc etc.to try to start your business as a flipper or wholesaler is tough and it has a 95% failure rate being that it appeals to the mass's of which many frankly don't have the skills to succeed or the financing behind them.OR converselyMake money at your chosen profession save and buy and hold.. buy the best you can hold for long term.. same with buying securities .