Investment HELOCs in Tacoma?

Question

Hi there,I'm having a really hard time getting a HELOC on an investment property in the Tacoma area.  I have 13 properties and great income but I have been disqualified at one bank because I had too many properties (what?!) and two others said they did investment HELOCs and then ended up only offering fixed rate/term mortgages.Does anyone have any leads on a good investment friendly bank that offers HELOCs?  Thanks in advance!

Arun N · Answer

Does BECU offer HELOCs even if you've more than 4 investment property loans? I tried a few banks/CU (firsttech, Usbank, BoA) and they all said that they can do HELOCs only if i've 4 loans or less.

Matt J. · Answer

@Keegan Burmark I have two HELOC’s on SFR rentals. Both through Americas Credit Union, they’ll go up to 80% LTV on non-owner.

Nghi Le · Answer

+1 for BECU on investment HELOCs.  However, most lenders will only allow HELOCs up to 70% LTV on investment properties (as opposed to 90-95% on primary residences), and the rates aren't as attractive, whereas you can get 30-yr fixed loans up to 80% LTV on investment properties.

Curious why you are going for HELOCs as opposed to fixed mortgages?  What's your goal with the HELOC funds?

There's also the option of getting a commercial BLOC across many properties, but again these rates tend to be higher too (last I checked in the 6's and 7's).

Dave Fulton · Answer

Hi Keegan!

I’ve had good luck in similar situations with some of the local credit unions, or else People’s Bank. They are local to Bellingham but work in all of WA.

Best of luck! Keep us posted.

Richard Santi · Answer

@Keegan Burmark I know BECU and HomeStreet Bank do them.

Dmitry Semenov · Answer

Sound Credit Union does HELOCs on investment properties, as far as I know.

Nghi Le · Answer

@Keegan Burmark Keep in mind that during financial crashes LOCs tend to get frozen.  So you essentially won't be able to access your HELOCs.  That's what happened during the last crash.  The best way to ensure that you'll be ready in a crash is to have actual cash on hand.

Keegan Burmark · Answer

, Thanks for the seconding of BECU!  I am going with HELOCs because I'm trying to expand my buying potential for if/when another crash comes.  I've found myself with a lot of equity in a few of my properties the last few years and I don't necessarily need access to that money now but if we have another 2008 then I want to be ready to pounce.  Fixeds would have me paying until that crash happens but HELOCs let me only pay when I use the money which I think is a better fit for my 'waiting game'.

Of course, I agonize that maybe I'm just losing time by not investing aggressively right now with all the money I could possibly get but, for now, I'm trying to be more conservative (as opposed to the last five years of aggressive investing).

@Matt Jones 80%!  America's CU just moved to the top of my list...

Investment HELOCs in Tacoma?

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