It's my understanding that cash out refis are hard to come by.You may need to get private money, obtain a huge second or refi it and then do a no cash out refi later to get where you want to be.Only two ways to get equity out, sell the property or borrow it out, borrowing has tax advantages and does limit liability in a round about way.I'd consider your cost of money and use of funds considering paying down principal on a home that was to be used for a 7 year period, you could probably do much better using it in other ways.

This is not limited to the “small guys” either.

I was making really good profits on every flip (as high as $50k on one) but I was severely limited on the number of projects I could do.

Available add on services, monthly maintenance inspections, monthly market reportsRepair limits without notification, what is your limit?

There are now servicing requirements, limits on balloons, and qualifying the buyer's ability to pay.  

-StevenI believe Steven meant FLP which stands for Family Limited Partnership.

.- If you dive head-first into RE, you may miss out on critical study time learning about it and reading about it.- The W2 job will help you qualify for a mortgage, which while interest rates are like they are, you want as many as you can!

If you bought the home today and needed to sell it a year or two later, you'd have a home that will have depreciated along with a shortage of available buyers due to limited financing options.

Please criticize and critique.

Others have mentioned ways to get the MLS exposure and the other methods are good but not critical and you can do these yourself as well.