*New Member* Scaling My Rental Portfolio – Advice on Leveraging Equity in Oxford, MS

[Ryan R.]

Hey everyone,

I’m currently in Oxford, MS and looking to scale my rental property portfolio. I wanted to share where I’m at and get some feedback on the best next steps.

I have one rental property—a detached condo—that’s currently performing well but is rented under market value:

Property Details:

• Type: Detached condo in a desirable development

• Current Rent: $1,500/mo (Market rent is ~$1,800/mo)

• Mortgage: $117,000 at 5.375%

• Recent Comp Sale: $320,000

• Cash Flow: After PITI and HOA, it cash flows ~$530/mo

• Equity: ~ $180,000 based on comp sales

My Goal:
I want to put this equity to work and scale my portfolio. The challenge in my area is finding properties where I can force appreciation—deals are tight and prices have already run up. So I’m exploring two main options to access the equity:

1. Cash-Out Refinance – Refi into a new loan and extract equity while keeping the new PITI close to what I'm currently paying, to maintain positive cash flow.

2. HELOC – Use a home equity line of credit to access funds for a down payment on another property (not a full purchase), potentially maintaining the current loan.

Both strategies would be used to fund a down payment on the next property, ideally one that cash flows well even if I can’t force value immediately.

Questions for the group:

• Has anyone here successfully scaled in a tighter market like Oxford where value-add deals are rare?

• Would you lean more toward a HELOC or a cash-out refi in this case?

• Are there other creative ways you’ve leveraged equity to scale in a similar situation?

Any advice or experiences would be much appreciated. I’m eager to grow but want to be smart about how I deploy the equity I’ve built.

Thanks!