I could have bought more in there but didn't want to hold much of that in the portfolio.

Hey guys, I have recently started acquiring buy and hold rental properties, and I'm looking to free up cash to grow my portfolio.- Notes: my residence has approx $200k equity and is currently a few years into a 30-year conventional mortgage at 3.25% interest.

As far as my portfolio, would you recommend a flip first?

I have a couple of investment properties and want to expand my portfolio.  

Once I have a good portfolio I can quit my job and focus more on REI.

With no credit/assets/income/proven history you're going to have to leverage relationships you have in order to get funding, and even then, it'll be an uphill battle.The best bet would be to find a partner/investor willing to take a risk on you, if you have a portfolio which details your experience that would be a good first step.

I have been considering switching up my portfolio to long term commercial leases, or renting shop space (commercial leases.With so many options out there I was wondering what some of your best headache free real estate investments have been: some examples could be storage units, multifamily rentals, commercial buildings with long term leases, etc.

You can keep it in your portfolio and acquire a few more to maybe offset your losses.

Are you looking for properties for your personal portfolio or to wholesale to other investors?

Or, was it a long term hold acquisition in which you were buying the asset to keep in your rental portfolio and have tenants pay it off for you?