Should we take the cash flow, pay down the mortgage and build equity, then take out a home equity loan or a cash out Re-Fi?

Where I need advice is - my primary home is fully paid up so I have a good amount of equity, should I pay for the rental property completely using my home equity or should I only take the down payment from the home equity and get a mortgage on the rental?

If it has a lot of equity refinance and pull out cash for repairs and renovate the units as they become vacant?

Also, before analyzing platforms, I would recommend taking a step back and figuring out what portion of your portfolio should be in real estate, and then figure out what portion of that should be split up into different strategies and asset classes (equity versus debt,  residential versus commercial, core versus core plus versus value added versus opportunistic, etc).  

Plus...escape velocity...Episode 113 – Jay Papasan - Very practical slow and steady adviceEpisode 221 - Tim Shiner - his concept of equity build up and "shearing the sheep" shows some of the flexibility of real estate vs a 401k Last but not least, I also recommend all the tax advice given by my fellow CPAs on the BP Podcast.

If it has a lot of equity refinance and pull out cash for repairs and renovate the units as they become vacant?

. 😉 Again, the only thing I wish I'd made more of a priority was accessing that equity while in an easier position to do so from a banks perspective.

Equity appreciation?  

My wife and I sold it in 2015 for $200k and kept the profit from equity as a down for our current house in Goodyear, AZ.

-Currently focused on  acquiring property and building equity in homes (next 1-5 years) with larger cashflow as a long-term goal (years 5-10).Thanks again to everyone for creating a great community-Kent