I am about to get an appraisal on my home on Wednesday. It will be my first ever HELOC attempt. Bought my home for 255, owe 220, but I have put 80k-100k into the home over a 3 year span in a nice neighborhood, so I can almost guarantee the home is worth at least 360k now. I have added an entire bathroom, hardwood floors, upstairs square footage, new tile showers, new laundry room, etc. lots of good upgrades. So I'm hoping for 400k value minimum.

My first question. 1) If it goes for 400, then my HELOC will be around 140k. Is it smarter to buy properties full cash with your HELOC?

2) So if a rental property investment is 120k I’ll say, but I tell the home owner look I’ll give you 90k cash now and bypass banks and all that, will this get me a better deal? I assume most sellers would rather just have the full amount on the spot instead of waiting for bank approval?

3) If this would get me a better deal, is it necessarily smart to use a large portion of my HELOC to get the better deal or should I use a small portion for the 10-20% down payment and then take out a separate loan for the rest of the house?

Thanks in advance for answers and advice. New to the forum but have read a book by the maker of this forum and talked to a friend who recommended I get on here.