Looking for advice about my next move

[Benjamin Gonzales]

My current portfolio-

Home #1 Cache, OK, Rented out for the past 2.5 years (VA loan)

Home # 2 Lacey, WA, Primary home for the past 2 years on the 23rd of December (VA loan)

Zero cash flow

Option 1- Sell my home in Washington State under a Sole propriety for minor tax benefits to my understanding. Use the net proceeds to invest but how much? I must keep in mind I need to pay down my own debt or at least that’s my belief. Get utilization down so I can apply for bigger loans to invest into passive income.

Option 2- Hold on to my home in Washington State... Wait for the market to sell at the right time, then invest into more real estate. Downside is, I wouldn't have a lot of capitol to use. I would still have higher amounts of credit card utilization. And I'd probably be paying a property management team to collect my rent. I've looked at different rent calculators, but the information looks really skewed.

Option 3- Sell my home in Oklahoma. I owe approx. 140K, the market says I could potentially get 190K. Use the capitol to invest into real estate and possibly a house depending on the right situation. I've thought about doing a 1031 like-kind property but have no clue how it works other than a 3rd party handles the transaction, and you have 45 days to identify replacement property.

Goals- I want to start my own LLC and see that it could possibly help me out financially. I spoke with a CPA advisor from wealth ability, and I only see benefits, thank you bigger pockets podcast! I need to come up with about 8K more to retain the CPA for this year's taxes. What I didn't know is that tax deductions based on legal entity has no meaning when filing for deductions.

[Steve Clifford]

Don't sell property if you can keep from it. I'd look into a HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) on your WA home, as I believe that should have more equity than the OK home, depending on certain factors. That allows you to have a line of credit against your home at (usually) a far lower rate than a cash out refinance. It's a line of credit, so you'd still need to make monthly payments on it, BUT if you're able to use that HELOC for a downpayment on another property, you should use your rental income to pay the mortgage and your payments on the HELOC. This option may prevent you from being cash flow positive for a couple of years, but you should be able to gain equity in your rental property over time.

I know a couple of GREAT lenders who offer 10%  down investment loans also.  If you're looking to purchase in WA, let me know and I can get you in touch. I'd also be happy to represent you on the real estate side for your purchase. I hope this helps!