Looking for advice on next step in real estate journey

[Jake Gullatt]

Hello , my name is Jake . I’ve been listening to BP for a while now and currently own 2 properties and each house has a backhouse . And I am finding myself directionless in my real estate investing journey and I’m hoping to get advice on my next step. I’ll try to make this background info brief. My brother and I purchased our aunts home in 2021 off market at 2.75% . My brothers family and my mom occupy that property in which we are not cash flowing but mortgage is paid and everyone is able to live affordably .I bought a second property from my cousin through seller financing in February 2025 . I had to do it this way because my lender said I didn’t qualify for another mortgage. I took out a personal loan for 25k and gave that to my cousin as a down payment and we have a contract for 3 years with me paying monthly , at the end of that contract I could see if a bank would give me a mortgage however I would like to offer my cousin an additional down payment to extend our deal . The reason I want to go that direction is because I’m saving thousands on interest and able to pay down the house 3x faster than a traditional mortgage. I am always trying my best to think 3 steps ahead on how to acquire the next house whether that be house hacking or a BRRRR . My first property has around 200k in equity and I was hoping to take out a HELOC but was told that because it wasn’t my primary residence that I could not . My current home (which I’ve been slowly remodeling) doesn’t have the most equity yet but I was also told by my lender that IF I wanted to HELOC that house it would be difficult because I don’t have a mortgage on it . I know I’m not in a bad situation but am struggling on deciding on a game plan to move forward in the next couple years. Do I just try to pay down current home as much as possible since I don’t have to deal with amortized interest? Is the lender the problem? What would you do if you were in my position?Any advice is appreciated! Thank you !