I also was considering selling some of my after tax investments but then I would need to pay capital gains on that money.I searched around the forum and could only find posts targeted at heloc vs. home equity loan so if i missed it and someone has a link I would appreciate it!

It may only save you $50-$75 a month but it will make this easier to sell down the road.

I've always wanted to dip my toe into real estate, but until now it has just been easier to put my savings into a mix of stocks (I am overweight stocks because I don't mind risk as I have the capacity to generate high income), a few bonds, and an REIT ETF.

My target county is Hartford (Manchester, E.Hartford, Hartford New Britain). 

Is it easier to acquire a loan when we already own that asset??

If you’ve had the property for a while, it’ll be easier than it’s been for us! 

So far, i've been doing a lot of listsource searching and skip tracing the leads i come across. it has cost me a few hundred dollars which is expected but I'm not too sure im targeting the correct market.

(skip traced spreadsheets) Cant wait to get the targeted social media ads, Driving 4 Dollars and other lead producing campaigns going!

Now going forward I'm expecting the values will rise considering they are easier to buy. 

It is possible is West Palm but my guess is the Roswell area in GA will be easier to find something that cash flows.