For me, the debt paydown and appreciation had given me about 60K in equity so I pulled out 30K and got a better interest rate than before. 

@Christopher Phillips, approximately $40K in equity.

.~$250k in equity in our small condo in Boulder, CO (worth about $530k right now) - we owe about $280k for 12 more years of a 15 year refiEmergency fund worth of cash (a bit low) and some insignificant retirement accounts ($10k and $30k, respectively)"Good" self-employment income, around $150k for both of us (it's all relative and that feels like pennies in Boulder)About $20k in credit card debt which should get paid off in a matter of a few months (we had some extraneous expenses in the recent past; long story; "won't happen again")About $16k car loan on my wife's Real Estate Mobile (she is a RE agent here in Boulder)I feel like we're the "Sam" character in Chapter 12 of the book - classically calculating our net worth looks OK, but calculating our "Real Net Worth" comes out depressingly negative.We really want to get started in REI, but of course we need to pay off our credit card debt and probably the car loan and save up $X first.Right?

I have one where I put down $10k and now have $300k in equity and it cash flows $500 per month.

You have $100,000 equity - how can occupying the unit help you build equity -just a little confused about that.So if you have $100,000 in equity you could -----Get a loan on the unit - keep it - rent it for an amount to cover your mortgage  and invest proceedsSell it - get your hands on that $100,000 and work on investing, give loans - buying notesSell it - do a 1031 tax deferred exchangedTake some of that cash and partner with someone like me to invest in lead generation or someone you trust to flip real estateIt sounds like you are in a good position - Be glad to give you some ideas - you are welcome to call anytimeCharles

Is it better from the start to wait to try and find deals with built in equity?

Buying a foreclosure, I’ve bought a home and have $35k in equity before I’ve fixed the home up.

They actually have about $65k in equity.

They have over 5 properties and over 4 mill in equity but there older and English isn't to great so at this point I want to figure the most logical decision on how to deal with the tenant and nothing else

I use $25,000 or less to buy a $225,000 house for say, $200,000 (so I have built in equity) taking over the existing mortgage with PITI of $1200.