Real Estate Investors: How to Use Other People’s Money to Scale Faster in 2026

💸 Real Estate Investors: Ready to Scale Without Using Your Own Money?

In this episode of The Real Estate Deal Room Podcast, Ebonie Beaco breaks down exactly how today’s investors are using other people’s money to grow faster, close more deals, and build real wealth in 2026.

If you’ve been stuck doing one deal at a time or waiting to “save enough money”… this episode is going to shift how you think about investing completely.

You’ll learn how to strategically use:

•  HELOCs to unlock hidden equity 
•  Cash-out refinances to recycle your capital 
•  Private money to fund deals without using your own cash 
•  DSCR loans to qualify based on rental income, not your job 
•  And how to layer multiple financing strategies to scale your portfolio faster 

This is not theory… this is real strategy used by investors who are actively building portfolios right now.

👉 Whether you’re a new investor, wholesaler, Airbnb operator, or seasoned landlord… this episode will show you how to stop thinking small and start structuring deals like a pro.

🚀 Ready to take the next step and structure your next deal the right way?

🌐 Apply now: https://www.homeloansnetwork.com

 📅 Schedule a 1-on-1 strategy session: https://calendly.com/homeloansnetwork

Let’s break down your deal, your numbers, and your options so you can start using other people’s money to scale faster in 2026.

🎙️ The Real Estate Deal Room Podcast
Where real deals get structured… and real investors level up. 💼💰

 #RealEstateInvesting #OtherPeoplesMoney #RealEstateDeals #DSCRLoans #HELOC #CashOutRefinance #RealEstateStrategy #InvestorMindset #ScaleYourPortfolio #RealEstatePodcast 

📲 If you want help structuring your next deal, send me a message or schedule a one-on-one at HomeLoansNetwork.com

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Finance Smart, Invest Smarter, and I’ll See You At The Closing Table.

Ebonie Beaco - Mortgage Strategist & Sr. Loan Officer

PH:12-392-0664

Home Loans Network Powered by Loan Factory (NMLS: #2389954)

Licensed in: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Virginia

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the real estate deal room podcast. This is where real deals get broken down, real strategies get exposed, and I talk about what's actually gonna work when it comes to real estate. So, when it comes to real estate, we're gonna talk about real structure, real money, real results. I am your host, Ebony Biko, Mortgage Strategist, and today I will be talking about the one thing that separates small investors from serious wealth builders: using other people's freaking money. Because he here's the truth. Most people are stuck thinking, how much money do I need to start? But the real question is, how do I control more real estate without using all of my money? So today I'm going to break down HELOC strategies, cash out refinance plays, private money versus DSCR loans, and how to layer all of these together so you can scale fast in 2026. So let's get in and let's talk about this. The very first thing is the mindset shift. Stop thinking like a beginner. Let's start here. Because see, if you don't understand this, none of the strategies will actually work or won't even matter. Wealthy investors don't chase money, they chase leverage, they chase assets, not money. Because see, they know if they have leverage and assets, they can get money. It's all about the checkmate. Now, let's think about it like this. See, beginners think I need $50,000 to buy a deal. Investors think who already has that $50,000 and how do I structure the deal? See, the key word is structure here, okay? So let's say you find a $200,000 deal that needs $40,000 down. A beginner walks away, an investor says, I'll bring the deal, someone else brings the money. We split the profits. See, that's leverage. That's also called joint venture partnership, too. Okay, now because see, real estate isn't about owning everything, it's about controlling the assets and creating the income streams. See, if you have the knowledge, and the knowledge to the point where that is your skin in the game, you can have resources, but it don't have to be actual physical financial resources. I need you to understand that your resources can be your network, your resources can be getting it done, your resources could be because you have a great team behind you, and that JV partnership, all they care about is you getting a deal done. Point blank, period. There remember, they're not chasing the cash, they already got the cash, they're not chasing the cash. They are more concerned about the results. So, again, real estate is not about just owning everything to be successful, it's about controlling the asset and creating income streams. Now, let's talk about the HELOC strategies, the home equity line of credit, how you could turn your equity into an opportunity. This is one of the most powerful tools sitting right under a lot of real estate investors' nose, or not even just real estate investors, homeowners who have a property and they don't realize how much money they actually have, right? Now, a HELOC is a home equity line of credit. What it does is it gets you basically where you're in a situation you could borrow against the equity in your property, like it's a line of credit. There's a lot of different things you can do with this line of credit. Down payment on a new property, right? Funding rehab projects, covering closing costs, using it as emergency reserves. So let me give you an example. Let's say you have $150,000 in equity in your property that you currently own. You open a HELOC, a home equity line of credit for $75,000. Now you, this is what you can do with it. You can turn around and use $30,000 for down payment, $10,000 for closing costs, and keep the rest of reserves. You see how that works? You just bought an investment property without touching your savings. And a HELOC, you only pay interest on what you're using, not the entire thing. Once the property cash flows in, then you can refinance should you decide to do that. You pay the HELOC back and reuse it all over again. That's how investors recycle money. Now, let me give you another example: a cash out refinance. Multiply what you already own. So let's go a little deeper. A cash out refinance is how you scale faster without selling your assets. That meaning without selling that property. Because, see, you can keep bringing money back into that property and recycling money back into that property to the point that you're building up your assets all over again. So when it is time for you to use the money again, you can keep doing it again and again and again. But if you turn around and sell that property just to hurry up and get the money out, guess what? You're screwed, you don't have another asset, right? I mean, if you do, it's another property, but this is your revolving bank. Understand that the property that you own, look at it as if it is your bank. So, with that being said, with this cash out refinance, you refinance your property for a higher loan amount and you take the difference in cash. Now, why this is important and it could be powerful for you. Tax-free cash in most cases, you keep the property and you keep redeploying the capital. So, I'll give you another example in regards to that. You bought a property for $180,000, now it's worth $260,000. You refinance and pull out $50,000. That's $50,000. That $50,000 becomes the down payment on your next deal or multiple smaller investments. Now you own the original property and a new property. That's how portfolios grow. Portfolios don't grow is by you keep selling, selling, selling because now you're just a flipper. The goal is you want longevity income coming in when it comes to becoming a real estate investor, and now you are building portfolios, not just one property at a time, and you close it on the next one. Here's the thing: you own the original property, you kept, you got the new property, and your portfolio is steady growing, and you're gonna keep repeating that. Use force appreciation, renovations, rent increases, because this will actually speed up the process. So that is gonna be a pro move that you're gonna use. You force appreciations, it's like the bird method, okay? And the bird method is when you you buy the property, then once you buy the property, you renovate or rehab the property. Once you do that, you're going to turn around and put tenants in the property, then you're gonna refinance the property, and then you're gonna do it all over and over again by repeating. But you're not, remember, you're not getting rid of that property, you're just going to get a new property. So that is the bird method, and that's basically what you're gonna be doing. Now, the other way to use other people's money is private money versus DSCR loans, but you need to be able to choose the right capital. So, this is where we're gonna talk about where the money actually comes from. So, private money is all about relationship capital, money from individuals who want returns but don't want to do the work. This could be, like I said, a JV, a joint venture partnership, a friend of family, business owners, high-income owners, other investors. So I'll give you a real life example in regards to this. You find a flip deal, you purchase it for $150,000, rehab it for $40,000, and your ARV, which is your after repair value or after rehab value, is $260,000. You pitch it to a private lender. I'll give you 10% return or profit split. They fund the deal, you manage it. You just made money without using your own money because, see, you put all the skin in the game for them. You did all the work for them, you allow them to continue to go on with their everyday lifestyle on how they make their money. You just gave them another stream of revenue without them doing anything but putting up their money because you still put some skin in the game. Now, this is an ultimate deal for someone who's looking for an investment. They fund the deal, you manage the deal, you just made the money, and you move it on. Now, that is for private lender. Let's take a DSCR loan. Let the property qualify. Now, this is where things really open up for you. A DSCR loan is a debt service coverage ratio loan. So, what this means is the property's income covered the loan, not your personal income. This is perfect for someone who has no tax returns, no W-2 dependency, they're easier to scale multiple properties. Now, here's a good example: property rents for $2,000 a month, mortgages $1,500. The deal qualifies based on income, not your job, not your DTI. This is how investors build portfolios. This is also good for if let's say you're trying to purchase an Airbnb. You make a lot of money from your other properties, but you don't have income that you're not trying to actually disclose. A DSCR loan would be perfect for that because you're not using your income to qualify, you're not using your job to qualify, you are using the income from the property to qualify. Now, let's look at layering financing. Layering financing is really just like this is like really scaling to the point that you have created a strategy. This is truly like creative financing, but you have to work with the right people to get this done, and you should understand how this is done. This is where average investors become advanced investors because, see, they don't use one strategy, they combine them all. So, for an example, I need you to take a pen and paper on this one or just play this part back. Let's break this down in debt. A HELOC home equity line of credit covers your down payment. The DSCR loan, debt service coverage loans, finances the property. The private money gives you funds for the rehab. The cash out refinance pulls your money back out. That's four layers on one deal. I'm gonna repeat that. The HELOC covers your down payment, the debt service coverage loan, which is the DSCR loan, finances the property. The private money funds the rehab. The cash out refinance pulls your money back out. Those are the four layers. This is about deal structuring. Now let me explain what that just flat out means. You're minimizing your personal cash, you're maximizing the deal volume, and you're speeding upscaling to multiple properties. This is how investors go from one property to five properties to ten properties to 20 plus properties to the point they have built a portfolio. And understand, real investors don't sell one property, real investors sell portfolios. That is how you make your money, that is how you flat out become a true millionaire. And I don't mean just a one dollar millionaire or one million dollar millionaire, absolutely not. I mean a multi-multi-millionaire because when people and real estate investors are start selling portfolios, they're selling portfolios, and these portfolios are selling for eight million dollars, twenty million dollars, because there's so many properties that they're selling under one portfolio. Sometimes they allow you to divide the portfolio up, but again, remember how you're gonna qualify in regards to this as the DSCR, right? You're gonna qualify based upon the income that is coming in on all of those properties. This is how you are going to grow. It is not luck, it's all about structure. Now, this is important to know all of this if you're trying to win in strategy in 2026. So let's bring it all together. 2026 is not a wait and see market, especially with everything that's going on right now, whether it's the war, whether it's tariffs, it's not a wait and see market, but it is a market about strategy, right? What's happening? The interest rates are shifting, property values are still holding strong, investors are getting more creative. You need to have the opportunity to understand the people who understand leverage are the ones that's gonna win. The people that understand leverages they move faster than everyone else because while others are waiting, you're acquiring properties, while others are saving, you are constantly scaling. So here's the bottom line here. If you want to scale in real estate, you cannot rely on your own money alone. You need strategy, you need structure, and you need the right financing options and the right financing partners. You need to have a team, you need to have the right team. That team is that real estate um agent who understands real estate investing and understands working with real estate investors, that loan officer who understands structure, not just structure, but structure and working with real estate investors, structures on the different types of properties and how they work and how to get the deals done and how to make the terms work for it. This is exactly why I help real estate investors and what I do every single day. So if you're serious about building your own portfolio, becoming a real estate investor and truly growing, or you're a realtor and you want to understand more about real estate investors, or you have deals that you are having that you find problematic and you're losing deals, guess what? Schedule a 101 strategy call with me and you can click on the link in the description. Let's break down your situation and show you how to use other people's money, how to structure your next deal, and how to scale, scale, and close more properties in 2026. I look forward and seeing you on the other side. And if this episode gave you value, make sure you subscribe, share this with other investors, and stay locked in. Because, see, the real estate deal room podcast is where real deals get structured and real, let's say bestors level up and realtors close more deals and build better relationships with their real estate investing partners. I will see you in the next episode and at the closing table.