Need some advice from the experts on building my financial/real estate empire...I've done some research and understand enough to be dangerous, but you might have to explain it to me like I'm five. And please, be brutally honest.
I'm six years into a conventional 30-yr @ 4.25% on my townhouse, market value increase has me at ~$190k equity. We have a baby on the way and will need to upgrade soon; the market we're looking at is ~$600k turnkey, or a reno candidate would probably be in the $400s (fuck you, Property Brothers). However, I don't have the cash for a 20% down payment and I'd like to hold onto the townhouse as a rental/investment (very desirable property/location, can easily get $2500/mo)...my assumption would be a cash out refi to facilitate said down payment, and hopefully the bank can overlook my wife's stupid car note for DTI considerations on the second mortgage. Other option I guess would be a straight refi on the remaining principal, then go in with <20% on the new house and pay PMI for a year.
Counterpoint: I have a full-time job and no landlord experience/infrastructure. Is it possible to learn on the fly without getting sued to Bolivia?..Are property management companies worth looking into (maybe as a near-term solution)?..Would it be smarter to just sell the townhouse and invest the profit?
And for a bonus question (since there's a fair chance I get strong-armed into it), how does one go about financing/contracting a fixer-upper? Execute the home loan as-is and pay cash for the reno work, bring the GC into the appraisal and roll the reno estimate into a bigger home loan, or...?
TIA