What To Do?
Very new-My husband and I have a house and would like to get some money out of it in order to turn around and purchase two rental properties. We are very new to this and have had several brokers tell us differing ways to do this......I was wondering if anyone out there would have some non biased opinions on the subject. Right now we probably have about 110k in equity. 
Assuming you have no additional funds, or at least not that you want to use, a HELOC is a good way to get cash for your investments, as long as you can make the cash flow on whatever you buy (mortgage PITI plus HELOC payments are affordable with your other debts and costs of living).
If you are new to REI, I expect the banker or broker that you use will look closely at your ability to make payments and will only give you 70 or 75 percent credit for the rental income to compensate for vacancies, repairs and other costs.
Pasadena is a great area--hope it works out for you.