What if the hardest part of real estate isn't finding that first deal, but knowing what to do

after you get it? Today, we're answering three real questions from the bigger pocket

forms that hit the exact pain points that Ricky's like you are running into, scaling the right way,

pricing rentals correctly, and setting up a short-term rental without all of those costly mistakes.

This up a short-term rental without all of those costly mistakes. This is The Real Estate Rookie Podcast.

I'm Ashley Care.

And I'm Tony J. Robinson.

And with that, let's get into today's first question.

So our first question, again, comes from the Bigger Pockets forms.

And it says, I currently own a property that has around $110,000 in equity. While I do not have a renter in this property yet, my plan is to have one by the end of the year, currently still renovating parts of the house. With the amount of equity that I have, I've been thinking a lot about investing in a second property. I've always had the dream of owning vacation rentals. However, I don't have that

much capital, and I worry about the feast or famine aspect of short-term rentals. I guess my main

questions are, what's the best next investment for someone who is relatively new to real estate

investing? Is the Burr method smart for me? And should I do a cash out refi to help fund the next

investment? All right. So basically, this person is just asking, hey, they've got some equity built up. What's the best way for them to deploy that? I think first, let's just define for all the rookies that are out there, like equity. And what does that actually mean? Right. So when we talk about equity, we're talking about the value of the home. What is the home currently worth, and what is the loan balance on that

house? And the difference between those two numbers is your equity. So I think my first question,

back to the person who asked this question is, how did you come up with that $110,000 of equity?

Was that based on like the Zillow's estimate, where it said that your house is worth X amount and you know what your loan balance is or that your neighbor's house sell for a certain amount.

But I think getting some clarity first on how you came to that equity figure would be important because that'll give you a better gauge on how, you know, how accurate and how much equity you actually have to work with.

So that's the first

part of just defining that. But for you, Ash, I think before we even get into what strategy or maybe

what move makes the most sense, this person also asked, like, what's the best way to tap into that

equity? Is it a cash out refinance or is it a he lock? What's your recommendation? Yeah. So I would

...