@Nathan Brown this answer will totally depend on goals, time of life / real estate journey, and many other characteristics, but I would look at one of two things. In my new job I am just too busy do a bunch of work on properties like I have in the past so I would look for a passive investment where I still own the asset, not a syndication, I am not ready for that route. I would likely look to leverage that safely over 3 +/- 1 properties and start building out an appreciation base. In 4-5 years I would looks to refinance and pull out the equity in the best performing homes and expand my portfolio if it makes sense at that time. 

I feel like home prices are going up either due to inflationary pressures from tariffs or when interest rates go down, it is going to unlock the floodgates of people that have been holding onto their homes with lower rates and now looking to upgrade. I guess only time will tell!

There are a ton of posts with the same question in this forum.

I’d start there to see the ideas others have shared, pros/cons and followup with the original posters to see what they decided to do and what their outcome was.

What in the name of all that is holy do you mean by “This $250K?” Is it different than THAT $250K?

 Personally, I'd put to use in my business or keep as reserves incase something does come up. The answer would be dependent on your goals and financial status. Yes you can invest in RE, but you can also grow it more by investing in your own business or using it when you find an opportunity that makes sense. 

Just because you have it, doesn't mean you have to make a bunch of un calculated moves. You have to flip the question and ask yourself, if I lost this $250k, what would I need to do to make it again? Once you figure this out, you'll be set.  

 Since the question is posed as "what would you do...?  I would lend $ to each of our kids to use as a downpayment on a business or cash-flowing real estate investment.  

If an emergency fund has not been set up, some of that $250K would go to an emergency fund. Maybe use a Wyoming LLC bank account to hold the emergency fund.

Then it would be dependent on opportunities.  If there aren't any viable options, look into some dividend paying ETFs.

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Since I have no consumer debt and a big beefy emergency fund, I'd buy 3 more single family homes in Alamance County NC to use as LTS in the 300K range. 250K should be enough for 25% down on each plus closing costs.

Of course, they'd need to cashflow. In today's market I'm not looking for 10% cash on cash, but I certainly don't want to be in the negative for the next year because I have to replace a water heater.