Using HELOC for down-payment

[Tomasz Banas]

I plan to purchase & hold my next investment property. I will apply for a loan that requires 20% down. At the same time I would like to apply for HELOC on primary residence to pay for that down-payment.

Will that work? I'll deal with portfolio lenders, not big banks. Should I apply for max I can get or just the amount that I need? I heard that not used line of credit still can work to my disadvantage (i.e. 100k LOC where only $20k is used still shows $100k).

Any advice will be appreciated.