HELOC to begin investing

[Tyler Gibson]

I'm a Student (living on the GI Bill and spousal income/hustling) with about $180,000 in equity in my primary residence (paid off in full). I'm getting ready to graduate in a year, and am wanting to know if it makes sense to use a HELOC to buy a few turnkey properties (2-4 ideally) to build up the portfolio while I'm in school, and then pay down the HELOC to then use it to buy a modest du/tri/quadplex. Our income is sub $60k/year (with the GI Bill income, etc) and we're about a year and a half from being debt free on the cars/cards/etc.

The long term goal is to get into the multifamily space and have that be my primary gig, but I'm cautious about moving forward too quickly and losing  the house I'm in now.  Short term is to get a 9-5 on graduation to carry the income until we hit a number where RE can become the primary gig.   

Thanks!