Hello,As these homes are not your primary residences, traditional lenders will not offer HELOC's.

When I was 25 I bought my first primary residence which was a small 2 bedroom condo in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, then once I moved out, I turned it into a rental.

I found a house that I want to buy as our new primary residence.  

Would like to make a move either way when the first selling peaks hits in 2016. Any advice is appreciated.

If you want "true" sales data, get your county data sets and do primary research. realtor.com is a web site owned by Move, Inc., which was acquired by News Corp.

I used to own a primary residence in San Ramon.

My main question is if it would be smarter to use the money I have saved up to purchase a primary residence here in Los Angeles so I am no longer throwing money away on rent, or if I should use that money to invest in a rental property some place like Atlanta, where I'm familiar with the market and is definitely more affordable.

How soon after purchasing your primary home can you apply for a home equity loan or line for investment?

I cash-out $20k from my primary to build $200k in business credit which makes me 10%+ cash flow returns on purchased rentals.

I only know of the primary residence that can be paid in installments.