<prompt> Human: Bought a house 2 years ago in an up and coming neighborhood for 270k. Its probably worth at least 450k now. My wife and I would love to start accumulating equityproperty in our area before the costs rise too much.Is it smart or idiotic to refinance the home, get a loan and use that to purchase a rental property?Part of me doesnt want to risk our house or get more loans. The other part of me want to capitalize on the housing market in our area to start to build a small portfolio.Also, wife is 1 month pregnant, so thats a factor.Any help or thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.  <response>: Do you want to be a landlord?It is a job it isnt just sitting there and collecting money to pay off a mortgage. You need to be on-call essentially 247, deal with the possibility of having a vacant apartment - while still paying the mortgage. Having a tenant that does not pay can take months to evict, while they trash the place. Read up on being a landlord before deciding to do this. 