Our interest rate on our home is high and we want to refinance. However we plan to begin our real estate investing journey by getting a HELOC to use for a down payment on an investment property. For all the mortgage experts out there: Will refinancing for a lower rate on our mortgage hurt our ability to get a HELOC? TIA

Colleen,

I would advise doing both a cash out refinance with a lower rate and also taking out a HELOC as a "Just in case". This way you lower your rate and take out some liquid cash that can be used for qualifying purposes since cash reserves are needed when you buy more investment properties. Cash in hand is a lot different than a HELOC which is an open end mortgage basically like a credit card. Cash in hand is also good for an aggressive offer with a higher deposit/earnest money.

HELOC's are looked at as a liability so just having a HELOC may not qualify you for a future purchase it may hurt if you do not have seasoned typically 2 months bank statements requested to show cash reserves. These are the little things that most banks/lender do not discuss during approval process and can lead to loan denials.