If you can take on another job or work more hours to build up some savings you can get a primary residence with little to no down payment if you can find the programs in your area. 

I have dozens of BRRRR's in this market and the biggest key to success here is 1 - finding sources that provide consistent deal flow2 - finding a contracting team that is reliable, communicates well, priced well, works in a timely fashion and most importantly has time for YOU.

I get it, build a team, hire professionals, blah blah. 

Build equity over time and take advantage of tax write offs and appreciation. 3-400 a month on a 70k investment is a 5-6% cash on cash return - you can get that in a high yield savings right now, and, that's objectively a lot of cash to shell out. 

Here’s why:Transparency: Being upfront builds trust.

@Simmy Ahluwalia I'm a builder in Atlanta and I'm starting to delve into the spec build market.

Open to loans but only if we net 10k a month after mortgage payments With 2 million dollars you could solely fund one of our ground up development deals at 15% down on a 50,000 sq ft building which we put about 70 units in on non recourse debt for land we already have locked up and entitled. don't buy and hold, don't listen to any of the 20 agents from columbus here who try to sell deals that are garbage. if buy and hold was the answer you'd see massive capital pools in columbus buying deals up. that was the model in 2014. all of the value creation is from ground up development partnerships. we can build with land cost below 65% of finished asset value on lease up and you can have no risk into the deal. the deal I'm talking about is a 12 story deal that we are working on. in columbus you can get downtown land for $400k that is about 0.22 acres right now with unlimited height and unlimited floor area ratios and build massive equity from joint partnerships.

I've done this 4 times and it has worked out great to build my rental portfolio.

My options are:Sell: Maximize down payment in NC, reduce debt.HELOC+Rent: Keep NJ property as an investment, rent for potential $3,300/month.I'm interested in long-term wealth building.

After a brief search, the IRS says-For tax years 2018 through 2025, if home equity loans or lines of credit secured by your main home or second home are used to buy, build, or substantially improve the residence, interest you pay on the borrowed funds is classified as home acquisition debt and may be deductible, subject to certain dollar limitations.