Advice needed: Buy house with cash + securities loan?

Hi HumbleDollar Community,

First of thanks to Jonathan and all of you for creating such a fantastic source of wisdom and practical advice. I am 53 and a novice investor (started very late ) with no residential property and semi-stable job. I have 2 young kids (got married late..) and plan to work till 64.

With the crazy housing market and bidding wars, I have been sitting on sidelines and getting priced out every year. I finally have come across a property in my town which I don’t want to leave (great schools) which I can afford. I have 70% cash saved and with my portfolio I can probably get 30% securities based loan without selling my stocks (using securities based loan aka SBLOC). The HOA has some dispute with the builder which doesn’t affect buyer/sellers but getting traditional mortgage without paying extra interest premium  is difficult as loan companies may not able to sell the loan to Freddie Mac etc.

With help of SBLOC, I can offer 100% cash offer and have higher chances of getting the house and the interest rate is lower and floating.

I feel it’s better to stay debt free and worry free by not having any mortgage with high interest rates. I have enough emergency savings if I lose my job. I could potentially make better returns using the cash but I buy only low cost index funds and highly unlikely I can beat the interest returns in coming years. If I use SBLOC instead of a mortgage, I will lose interest tax deductions but I think the difference it’s not material.

– Should I pay 100% cash offer (which also gives me upper hand in negotiations) and stay mortgage free given I am 53? I plan to return SBLOC as fast as possible which allows me not to sell my stocks and pay capital gains.

– Is there any reason I should get a mortgage instead?

– Is it worth to use cash as much as possible and reduce % of borrowed money or sit on cash and increase SBLOC/Mortage so that I have access to my cash in case of unforeseen situations or dry powder if market conditions present some good opportunity (Cash is king?)

Thanks in advance,

Am Ka