My family has a chunk of unused HELOC; would it be a smart move to use the HELOC to buy in cash and then pursue an SBA loan after owning it? 

Of course financing could be tricky unless you have some equity, in which case a HELOC or refinance might be an option. 

Using SFH primary residence with a HELOC (ex. $425k) to purchase a 12-unit Apartment ($1.5M) with 25% down ($375k from the HELOC).The remaining $50k from the HELOC could go into fixing/rehab of the 12-units.Then cash-refinance the larger amount from the 12-units to pay off the HELOC in one lump-sum (as much as possible), then using the cash flow from the apartment to pay off the rest of the HELOC.Repeat the process with a new apartment.1) Does this make sense? 

If so, it seems like having a few DSCR loans would make it difficult to qualify for a Heloc on a primary residence or even a car loan, for example. 

Fools investmentThere's a fire- cannot rebuild and investor loses everything; owner ruins his credit; injured tenant sues everyone; everyone broke.Lender calls the loan- everyone losesPaying down a loan does not reduce a payment, this is not a HELOC so that part is not math.There is zero equity to loan on, no one will loan on this.What would buyer have to do to convince a poor elderly person to take this risk- scare them, threaten, lie?

My two cents- 95% of the time, a HELOC is the best way to leverage equity and scale.

There is a small balance that I can pay off with a HELOC from another property I have .

My partner didn't have good credit at the time of purchase so her income isn't a factor for the HELOC because she isn't on the mortgage or the deed. 

I do like the idea of having access to the cash out refi and helocs 

I later heard but never exactly why, that the place was an absolute money pit and the buyer, who was very experienced, regretted buying it big time.It is interesting, but I ALWAYS do at least a bit of research on the prior owners and have found few "hard luck" stories, at least as far as either higher or high priced single fams go, they're by far the same story where the owner makes the financial decision to walk away, mainly due to the insane HELOC's etc they were giving out, like 125% of home's current value back in like 2006, so now they'll owe literally like $750k on a home that IF in great shape would at best fetch $500k, PLUS they trashed or semi-trashed the place, so they'd be really lucky to get $400k as is and often they may be business owners or whatever and have a relationship with a local bank who will then know "the whole story" behind the big hit they take to their credit score and not treat it nearly as harshly as the average Joe, who's practically banned from even entering the bank for years!