My home is fully paid for and I'm looking to use the equity to purchase more properties.Should I get a HELOC or just cash out refinance and lock in a lower rate?

It's not that you cant sell in Nov or Dec, but expect longer days on market or slightly lower pricing.

The agent.A short sale is pretty much this in a nutshell1) Buyer is in trouble and sends hardship to bank2) Agent does analysis and comes up with price (Which is of course lower than what is owed to bank)3) Bank says, go ahead and put it on the market4) Somebody looks at house and puts in offer5) Seller accepts any offer that comes in because they want out (regardless of how much the bank loses)6) Bank takes weeks/months to pay for their own evaluation, look at how long on the market, run an internal appraisal, look and do a cost benefit analysis on the loan and property7) Bank accepts/counters or denys the offer (provided they decide to do anything at all and not just foreclose on the original borrower and take the house themselves)I have it happen monthly....

The transactional costs are lower on a rental and while it's spread out over a longer period of time, you'll make a LOT more with a rental than a flip.

Some offer higher risk higher return and some lower risk lower return.Let us know on what you decide! 

Keeps payments lower so risk is lower.

I am considering doing some flipping here in Alaska to create some capital and perhaps do some rentals once I get back to the lower 48.

My husband and I told the realtor to lower the price down to $200,000 but the realtor just lowered it to $209,000.

Bosshardt, Watson, etc... tend to have a higher fee and tack on a % to maintenance which always irked me.Exit Realty, Matchmaker tend to have lower fees compared to the larger brokerages and may not tack on a % to the maintenance fee.Gore Rabbell is another one to investigate.If you send me a PM I can give you more candid feedback. 

Two, more importantly, it works now in certain parts of the country because of their low capital cost basis and more importantly, the current low-interest environment, which allows them to own SFR as rentals with bare positive cash flow in lower-priced markets.