Invest in stocks, pay off student loans, or buy Real-estate.

[Robert Pierce]

I'm a long term stock investor and have recently started looking into Real-estate opportunity as a way to diversify my investments, still very new.

Right now I'm in the process of selling my home just outside Orlando metro to move closer to downtown Orlando, and I have enough cash for  a down payment on the next property. The predicament I'm facing is that between myself and wife we have student loan debt @ 1500/mo, 7 years left, and our house sale proceeds are enough to wipe out the loans. 

Part of me wants to just pay off the loans to open up the 1500/mo which reduces our liabilities and in turn would allow us to save more cash and reduce out debt/income ration. This would also allow us to get back to living off 1 income and dedicating the other to saving/investing.

What have others done in the past?