New "investor" in the Appleton, WI area

[Jordan Connor]

Hey everyone!  Long time listener of the Bigger Pockets podcast, and I figured I would finally make my first post in the forums.  I have been learning as much as possible for some time now and am in the process of being able to start on the big jump.  To give you all a little background.  I am 33 years old, 2 daughters(3 and 5) and my wife.  With the expense of kids, our budget is slim, but still moving forward in a good direction.  Currently I have 2 options with our current living situation

1.  Sell house, and use the equity to buy a duplex, and live in one half.  This way we can save moeny for the 2nd property.

2. Keep house, take a small(25k HELOC) loan for the down payment on a duplex, and rent out our current house. Still move into a duplex and live in one half.

I like the idea of the 2nd plan because we have about 80k in equity in our house right now, and it could potentially kick start our investing with 2 properties(technically).  Anyways, i just wanted to say hi, and I really enjoy this group, podcast and learning all about real estate.

Cheers,

Jordan