Pay off debt or invest?!

Pay off debt or invest?!

Member since 2019 · 10 posts · 0 votes

I am in a unique situation and would like to know what you would do.

A little back story- My husband and I were in the beginning stages of building a new primary residence. My aunt filed for divorce, knew we would be selling our home soon, and needed a place to stay. This was in February of 2019. She wanted to buy our house, but can’t until her divorce is over, so we told her that she could rent our home until she could buy it and we moved in with my in-laws.

When the house sells, we will have about 60k in equity. Because we were planning on it selling earlier and using that money on our new home, we ended up with about 30k of building supplies on our credit card (10k is 0% interest, 20k at 12%).

I was initially planning on using the 60k to pay off the credit card, but I am just starting to build my portfolio, and wonder if it would be smarter to use that money to invest in a property. I am currently reading The Millionaire Real Estate Investor - there was a similar situation mentioned in the book, and they took the money and invested it.

What would you do?

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Rental Property Investor · Campbell, CA · Member since 2017 · 419 posts · 499 votes
6y

Pay off any debt over 6% interest.. which will almost certainly mean paying off your credit cards.

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  • Rental Property Investor · Campbell, CA · Member since 2017 · 419 posts · 499 votes
    6y

    Pay off any debt over 6% interest.. which will almost certainly mean paying off your credit cards.

  • Member since 2019 · 10 posts · 0 votes
    6y

    @Mike V. Thank you for your response! :)

  • John UnderwoodPro Member
    Investor · Greer, SC · Member since 2014 · 13k+ posts · 17k+ votes
    6y

    Definately pay off the high interest credit cards.

  • Hatfield, PA · Member since 2012 · 1k+ posts · 629 votes
    6y

    Debt over a certain level can impact your desire to get into rental properties.

  • Rental Property Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2016 · 541 posts · 715 votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @Katie Ferguson:

    I am in a unique situation and would like to know what you would do.

    A little back story- My husband and I were in the beginning stages of building a new primary residence. My aunt filed for divorce, knew we would be selling our home soon, and needed a place to stay. This was in February of 2019. She wanted to buy our house, but can’t until her divorce is over, so we told her that she could rent our home until she could buy it and we moved in with my in-laws.

    When the house sells, we will have about 60k in equity. Because we were planning on it selling earlier and using that money on our new home, we ended up with about 30k of building supplies on our credit card (10k is 0% interest, 20k at 12%).

    I was initially planning on using the 60k to pay off the credit card, but I am just starting to build my portfolio, and wonder if it would be smarter to use that money to invest in a property. I am currently reading The Millionaire Real Estate Investor - there was a similar situation mentioned in the book, and they took the money and invested it.

    What would you do?

    No brainer - pay off the high rate debt first. No brainer 

  • Rental Property Investor · Chubbuck, ID · Member since 2018 · 532 posts · 466 votes
    6y

    Only good debt is for your properties. Stay out of consumer debt.

  • Rental Property Investor · Navarre, FL · Member since 2019 · 913 posts · 640 votes
    6y

    A lot of great replies! May I offer something a little contrarian to consider?

    Some people use hard money lenders to get into real estate and interest rates can easily be at 12%. I see you have $20K at that rate already...just a thought here, but possibly instead of tying up any cash to pay down those credit cards, you may need it for the downpayment to go off and buy something like a buy and hold rental property. Buy it, rent it out, then the tenants are paying off your 20% credit card. 

    That's the way I've been looking at it ever since I paid off one of my mortgages and regretted doing so, the money would have been much more beneficial to have. That interest rate was 5.125% so I was looking at it through your eyes, I think. 

    You're in a strong position, for sure! Good luck.

  • Member since 2019 · 10 posts · 0 votes
    6y

    @Michael King thank you for your reply! This is actually exactly what I was thinking. I really want to get into the game, but I would probably need a hard money loan for a down payment.

    I’m thinking I could possibly avoid that with a similar interest rate paying off my debt slowly and using the 60k (or at least some of it) as a down payment.

  • Luke CarlPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Tennessee Florida · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    6y

    @Katie Ferguson Pay off the credit card for sure. If the debt doesn’t make me CASH I don’t have room for it in my life.

  • San Jose, CA · Member since 2015 · 4k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    6y

    Would your return be more than the 12% interest on the debt?  Probably compound interest, too?  I was also thinking about your credit.  Seems to me it would look good on your credit to have paid off that debt.  Might raise your score.  And make it easier to borrow at a better rate.

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