Going forward I believe in order to scale I need high net worth private lenders instead of equity partners.

I have good equity on both and plan on using it for my next investment. 

Relationships matter so do dollar amounts.I have not had a problem with the place I mentioned and did not think they were doing me a favor.In fact, they are not even the title company I would call if I wanted a favor.

Heloc is a great tool, but it's essentially a credit card against a portion of equity in your home.

We are both in agreement that our biggest asset is the equity we have stored in these houses-- about $400k.

An odd question, but what would a responsible RE investors consider to be a good % of the value (market price, not equity) of your primary residence compared to their total net worth?  

Yes some of it is their properties have gone up in price to equity, some of it is they have paid some things down, and some of it looks like retirement planning as older more experienced investors move towards retirement and seem to value cash flow over numbers of doors.We personally like moderate leverage, but we are starting to think in terms of slightly fewer doors that are paid off in 15 years vs having as many totally leveraged properties as possible.

I located a great deal on a vacant condemned property that is paid for in full sitting on over $300k in equity.

But after 6-12 months I would like to refinance and pull out some of the equity if I can.

You said "next" so it sounds like you have an asset or two that might have some equity you could use.