What is your primary investment strategy? 

I’m trying to get a heloc or cash out refi on a primary residence duplex.l under FHA.I have great credit but modest incomeWife has bad credit with better income therefore I don’t believe we will qualify for heloc.Our plan was to get heloc to use as a down payment on another house hack or general investment property.So far our mortgage company said they could do the cash out refi which would raise our mortgage from $800 to $1200 (current rate is 3.62) and the rate would go to 6.6To pull out hopefully 30-35k maxMy concern is if I do the cash out.

I had an outstanding cost of $30k that I rolled into a cash refinance on our primary residence. 

I purchased my primary residence in Tennessee in March 2024.

The dumbest thing I’ve ever done was paying off my first two rentals and trying to pay off my primary.

Then my current primary home will be rented out to balance the cash flow of this purchase for the next year or so.

Quote from @Vincent Pflieger: Hey everyone,I’ll keep this short and would love to hear from investors who have successfully leveraged a HELOC to scale their real estate portfolio for both short-term cash flow and long-term wealth building.I’m about to unlock $200-250K in HELOC from my primary residence (a condo in NYC), and I know there’s a powerful strategy I can implement.My current plan:✅ Acquire a 10-15 unit multifamily in a mid-sized market (AL, TN, OH, etc.), targeting a $700-800K deal with value-add potential.✅ Use 20% from my HELOC for the down payment and finance the rest with hard money.✅ Force appreciation over 6 months, then refinance into a DSCR loan to pay off the HELOC.✅ Rinse and repeat!

My primary experience recently w/ Atlanta wholesalers has been mispriced properties due to the additional margin added.

Which may also be a reason to hold on to your current place (appreciation).Second, have you been in your primary at least two years.

Or sell using the 1031 exchange along with a partial 121 primary residence exemption There is a way you could take advantage of the 121 primary residence exclusion allowing you to take the first $250k of the gain tax free ($500k if married) and qualify for a 1031 exchange.Say you purchase a property as your primary residence (house hack extra rooms for extra income) and lived there for two years while stationed there.