I am in the process of getting a HELOC on my primary residence at the moment.

You can get into a home for little or even nothing down, perhaps add some value by renovation, then hop to a new primary residence in a year with little or nothing down, and repeat.

Only trick to this would be if you do not own your current primary residence and you do not have a current housing payment, then no rental income from either the upcoming subject property or investment property can be utilized towards qualifying.

Investment Info:Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Investment Info:Single-family residence fix & flip investment.

Investment Info:Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

@Jonathan Greene I'm not sure what you mean by "most will not cash flow as an out-of-country investor" as it might suggest that the cash-flow of a given property has something to do with the nationality or residence of the owner but, in any case, you're absolutely correct that, historically, the net rental yields of LTRs in US cash-flow markets like the Mid-West have been typically higher than in the average European market, although that wouldn't be the case for many other US markets like California or New York.

Based on the tenor of your posts, I've got to ask - do you have your primary residence squared away?

Quote from @Erwin McClain: I had rental properties out of state but I have been renting rooms in my primary residence for over 10 years since my 2 boys have moved out.

If the local market is healthy and rental income will be adequately managed by a property manager, then a long term residence could be used to build equity.