When we moved, we turned it into a rental, hoping this would be the start of our real estate journey—something we’d like to continue once my husband retires.Some key details:My husband is active duty and will retire in 3 years.We have one final move coming up this summer to Raleigh, NC.Our current debts are crippling us—the high interest makes it tough to stay afloat every month.The plan me and my husband are thinking bout:Sell the rental property.Use the proceeds to pay off all our debts, set aside emergency funds and a down payment for our next home.Free up $1,500/month from debt payments, and that also can stash in a high-yield savings account.Regain full VA loan entitlement, allowing us to purchase a multifamily home and use the house hacking strategy for up coming move.Avoid capital gains tax, since April marks five years of ownership, and the tenant’s lease ends in May.This wasn’t our original plan, and we hate the idea of using our equity to pay off debt.

They get a higher return since they are covering housing cost, have the $250k per spouse primary residence deduction in gains, is a savings account, higher leverage position, lower interest rate possible, will pay more premium for location, etc.House might be overpriced for REITs but not for home owners.  

If the loan amount you are looking for is small relative to the value of the first and the second property combined, they are very well secured on a LTV%; ask for a 1% point lower rate.If you don't want to Cross Collateralize, do you have any CD's or MM you can transfer to this bank as collateral. 

.; and capital to pay for options, marketing, legal counsel, accounting, tax advise, etc.  

If you need financial help, ask under the "Finance, Tax, and Legal" forum.

This was my first deal, and house hacking made the most sense because it lowered the threshold for risk in my mind.

Not sure if it had something more to do with pandemic response to move to lower priced areas or what the motivation was.  

For $10K and a lower rate I'd be willing to consider delaying...but only if I knew that lender two was solid on closing in a relatively short timeframe.

Work with a lot of expats and foreign nationals in this space tax related.

Heck, there are even lenders that will NO DSCR, meaning they dont care what the income of the property is and they'll still fund the loan (at a lower LTV and higher interest rate of course).