Good luck Mara the trick is to get started … all the rest will follow ;-)

Never use a bank for advice they just tell you whats good for them not you.

There to forms of debt, good debt and bad debt good debt is tax deductible like a IP and bad debt is not tax deductible like debt on the home you live in.
Equity gives you the ability to borrow for good debt in an IP.

Pay off all your bad debt asap (home you live in) as this isn’t tax deductible

And claim the good debt as a tax deduction

I used equity in my home I live in to purchase 3 properties this year which are all returning over 8% which I think is a good return at the moment.

It will get tricky for you if you move from one property to the other as far as you go and you need to speak to a professional about that.

Cheers Good Luck

Using Steves rule the following is my 3rd property with this rule 8.4% and each has been getting better returns .. but the trick is in the research finding properties which are straight away returning $$$ .. I don’t see any point in putting my money into subsidising someone else’s rent

$220/w x 52 = $11440
$11440 / $135000 x 100 = 8.4%
4.5% interest plus 1% = 5.5%

the other two properties return 7.6% and 8.2% all bought this year