Due to high demand, many investors in Austin are finding they need to adjust their approach a bit to make the numbers work.Rehab Budget: Ensure that bids are received from multiple contractors and that adequate reserves are made for cost overruns.

A Heloc can never be used as a PITI reserve, or an asset instead its a debt burden and an additional trade line on credit.A Heloc carries a higher risk when it comes to security meaning if you miss a payment even by mistake or for any reason, your scores drop, or your balances start to change your DTI or usage percentage.

My goal changed from acquiring more inexpensive properties to looking at real estate as a store of wealth - quality over quantity. 

I was looking to flip a few properties first in order to build up a little stack of reserves before starting to purchase for rentals.

A hard money loan with 10-15% down may also allow you to keep the Atlanta property, if you have the reserves to do it.

After 99 Cents Only filed for bankruptcy in April 2024, 28 stores in Phoenix closed, leaving 632,900 square feet of prime retail space available.

The logic is so *** backwards.You buy real estate for the investment benefits, and store of value, etc.

The fact of the matter is you mitigate that risk by doing what the folks above already told you....you bring money to the table and you have money in reserves if things go bad. 

Again, the BiggerPockets store has some books on this topic, or you can learn about it by watching podcasts, reading blogs, and interacting on the forum.

When you don't have money for a downpayment, you should not be trying to buy a home because no matter how you do it, you will be overleveraged and have no reserves for repairs, etc.