It's my understanding that cash out refis are hard to come by.You may need to get private money, obtain a huge second or refi it and then do a no cash out refi later to get where you want to be.Only two ways to get equity out, sell the property or borrow it out, borrowing has tax advantages and does limit liability in a round about way.I'd consider your cost of money and use of funds considering paying down principal on a home that was to be used for a 7 year period, you could probably do much better using it in other ways.

Maybe this will cut down the competition on HUDs and shut down all the wannabe hard money brokers.

If you are an appraiser such as Richard then you have an advantage to put a package together to bolster your position.

The question is, if you pass the fee along to tenants (which doesn't sound unreasonable if they want additional parking) will the rents still be competitive?

Of course when I started, the internet was not around, so BP is a big advantage you have over what I had to get goin.

Use that urgency to your advantage and vet the sellers that have the highest urgency, they're the one's that will sell you a home for $3000 when they asked $13,000.

So the interest paid by LLC will be income for me (51% partner) on my personal return and the benefit on remainder 49% would be the advantage so to say?

Well then I teach you my business, my secrets and then you go and become my competition.

I hated doing the engineering and would have preferred being RE, but there were some MAJOR advantages to doing the engineering while I did it:- Had a steady paycheck while I 'figured out' real estate and where I fit in with it, and benefits of course- The company was contributing to my 401K while I was there which ended up being free money I used later to buy real estate- It gave me time to really figure out my niche in real estate.

You also need to know your local competition.