In some cases, after crunching the numbers, the profit margin was so slim—or even negative—that I had to pass on some promising opportunities.Here’s my situation: I currently own two properties—a primary residence and a rental property—both of which have substantial equity.

For me, it was live in flips, short term rentals, mid term rentals, good income with a solid savings rate, buying after tax index funds, paying off the primary house, driving old cars, moving a lower cost of living area (from Houston to small town Maine), and selling a business to push me over the top. 

Demolish existing and add a primary, DADU, ADU or even possibly a four plex.

As has been mentioned, try to find a way to keep as your primary for 2 years, and all gains are tax free at the sale.

The first misconception is that you can declare a property headed onto the market only S8 eligible, refusing to consider traditional applicants.

The HML covered 100% of the $32,500 rehab budget through drawbacks.Refinance: Post-rehab, I refinanced into a primary mortgage, creating 25.5% equity in the property.Future Financing: I plan to leverage the property with a HELOC to access up to $86,000 in capital for future deals.

There's a few different ways to focus on a lower rate such as with house hacking and making the investment your primary residence, requesting a significant closing credit from the sellers for standard rate buy-downs (which I've had great success with recently), or utilizing lenders who offer short term rate lowering solutions such as 2-1 rate buy downs (again, ideally paid for by the sellers).

FHA is for sure not going to be an option for him, last option is purchasing from an investor with owner financing, or lease to own program where he will not need traditional financing. 

Like maybe I could pull enough out from heloc on primary residence to pay off debt and then rent out my primary and use the extra cash to payoff heloc and then do another heloc once the original one is paid off.

I used them all as primary homes then moved and rented them out.