(I'm copying this over from the buying/selling forum)I've lived in a home for 20 years (it's a 50 year old, 1200 sq ft manufactured home, basically a double-wide trailer, that has very dated decor, drop ceiling, and in fair condition) and it's currently listed for sale.

MHPs can get up in the 40% range in repairs/maintenance for park owned units.

I started this thread assuming we would have to sell our house to use the equity, but given the generous advice on this thread, it's pretty clear that HELOC / HEL might be the way to go, which in turn means we don't need to sell our current home to use the equity, and thus opens us wide to using that equity to fund our investments anywhere, not just bay area (sorry for the long run on sentence).

Five minutes into the MLS I found 2 properties in her price range and when she hemmed and hawed at those not being good enough I just put her on an MLS drip, gave her my card, and let her float off into space lol.Sellers are worth more effort up front because they take less effort in contract-to-close and you get some free marketing with the for sale sign. 

Unfortunately, the areas I am looking at are in very high demand (River North, West Loop, Fulton Market), and have prices such that I would at best barely break even with rent after taking into account HOA and taxes ($300k-500k range for 1-2 bd, HOA in the ~$500/mo).

You totally rang a bell and I’ll have to certainly go back and investigate.  

Thanks to my high W2 income and not having any debt, it would also be easy to get approved for some cheap 2.x% financing.Having never owned real estate, a good way to get started would be by owning my primary residence for a while, with the intent of eventually renting it out in a few years and in the meantime seeing how I feel about maintenance and home ownership in general.Unfortunately, the areas I am looking at are in very high demand (River North, West Loop, Fulton Market), and have prices such that I would at best barely break even with rent after taking into account HOA and taxes ($300k-500k range for 1-2 bd, HOA in the ~$500/mo).I understand condos in downtown are generally a bad investment, but I really don’t want my quality of life to suffer by moving far just for the sake of home ownership.

As an investment property you can go up to 85 LTV on a portfolio loan with interest rates in the 3.25% - 3.50% range.

We are going wide, before we go deep.

Are there a wide range of renters there (Class A?