Rent or Sell My Home as a Jumpstart to Investing??

[Laurieann D.]

Hi Everyone:  Boy am I in the maze.  I am trying to figure how to use my current home as leverage to invest.

I have about 220K in equity in my home and wonder if I should use some of it to purchase a new home for rental or rent out my existing home?

My current monthly mortgage is approx. 1500.00.

Of course if I borrow anywhere from  100 to 150K, I will likely add about 300.00 to 400.00 to my current mortgage (1800 - 1900, according to my existing lender).  Homes are renting in my area for approximately 2K.  

If I rent out my home for 2K; I would have to borrow equity to purchase a new place to live and have about an 1800 - 2000.00 mortgage with the existing home mortgage being close to the same.  

If I sell my home, I would have approximately 220K in gains to use.

Can anyone suggest the best approach when considering using one's leverage in home for investing?  Does it make sense to increase my home debt to invest in other property???

Thanks, Laurie