@James Miller in Florida, it is .7% of the mortgage balance.

If you take out more than the balance of the credit cards, you will now be paying 7% (+ or -) annually on money to buy properties that yield more than 7%. 

How should you go about balancing between affordable and enough to cover repairs/cleaning?

@James Wise I agree...it's a little difficult to insert metropolitan statistical area after every reference to a city.

That said, the HELOC can be frozen at its current balance if the value of the HELOC drops materially.

On the flip side, I don't believe in timing the market and I love real estate, so I don't want to miss opportunities to grow my real estate business.Anybody that was heavily hit by the last recession that could offer thoughts on the right balance between leverage and risk during good times?

I personally wouldn't take on any new builds in this market, but that's me.We won't crash, but as the market balances out, things will be harder to sell.  

As a real estate broker in New York (where inventory moves quickly and it is difficult to buy at steep discounts), most times it is not worth it to go around putting in lowball offers for my clients mainly because the market moves quickly and also because it wastes everyone's time.   

Finding great deal is the most difficult piece right now.

I would like to get some input into how difficult or challenging that may be, particularly in the Boston area.