Renew HELOC - Debt to income ratio too high

[Don Jackson]

Hello BP folks,

I currently have a HELOC that is 10 years old and is expired (I can't take any more money out of it, just pay it down). It is with Chase bank. They contacted me and asked if I want to get a new HELOC. My home has gone way up in value and has a lot of equity in it, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to get a much bigger HELOC and start buying some new investment properties. My plan is to get the down payments out of the new HELOC. I have cash, but I've learned (the hard way) to always have a cushion in my real estate bank account.

It turns out that my debt to income ratio is too high because of the current mortgages I have. One on my home and three on rental properties. I can easily pay more in payments, but there are new stringent policies in place since I purchased my properties in 2007. I'm self employed so that's another strike against me.

I guess my question is: should I shop around for a HELOC with other banks or are they all going to have the same formula and say that my debt to income is too high? Is there any other way to use the equity in my home to help me buy a few more income properties?

Thanks for any thoughts