@Terra Padgett as someone that has retired early off of my rental property cash flow, I will say it is predictable at scale, over time.One property does not provide predictability either on short term, or over the course of one year.

Purchase price: $680,000 Cash invested: $510,000 We funded this loan in 48 hours. 75% loan to cost.

@Terry Majchrzak you can certainly do a "subject to" on an FHA loan but FHA loans are also "assumable" too. 

My name is Richard Pennington I am in the Raleigh North Carolina area seeking any advice on using an FHA loan or conventional  loan for my first investment property.

The lending terms (specifically the down payment requirement) are generally much more favorable for an owner occupant and you can always convert it to a rental property down the road.Good luck!

One of my strategies will be to put money into energy efficiency to decrease heating costs, and increase my cash flow - Maine has some good loan programs/rebates that can really help tighten up a building, and finance efficient heating, so I'll be taking advantage of those.

Those are tougher construction loans to get than for investors 

I’m looking to purchase my second property (hopefully a duplex) and believe using a home equity loan is the best way to tap into my equity to use as a down payment since my mortgage rate is 2.5%.

The first is the interest rate, my guess from the information you gave is that the loan is about 6% which isn't all that bad, but high enough to consider paying it off versus investing in some S&P 500 etf (depending on your marginal tax rate). 

Straight shooters in terms of pricing and scoping.Alotta Properties has been my PM since day one and they have been great.