Prior to paying off the house I looked into refi. and was told by the person on the phone that PMI was changed to for life of loan as Troy stated.

What I was thinking about doing is taking out the HELOC in order to make some improvements to the property using OPM and hang on to my cash.Given that I am putting down 25% on the property it seems like I would have enough equity to get a HELOC but I'm not up to speed on how HELOCs work.If there is a better option to accomplish the same goal that you can suggest I would love to hear it.  

,I'm buying my first duplex and am learning a lot as I go (despite all my prior research)! 

Share our mistakes,goals and more importantly our journey into success.  

What I was good at was running a business, I started my own at the very young age of 19, and what I did have was the desire and determination to succeed at my new goal at that time - real estate.Start small and flip a house.

Forget about instant gratification and work towards future goals.   

Our goal is to have our first contract flipped by the end of September.

Our current goal is to have our first contract flip by the end of September.

How do you best utilize all the resources (networking, podcasts, resources) that BP has to offer on this site to increase your net work while decreasing the time it takes you to achieve your goals?

That's how I got to my goal in real estate, so I highly encourage everyone to get out there and meet people in person.