Do you know what I did with my first real estate check?

[Peter Sanchez]

I paid off my student loans...even though the interest rate wasn't very high. I paid them off even though I probably could've used the money to invest in a bigger house right away.  Why?  I'll explain.

I bought a tiny studio apartment in DC when I graduated law school and got my first big boy job.  I sold it 3 years later and got a nice check (paid $70k in 2000, sold it for $210k in 2003).  It was the start of the real estate bubble and I got lucky.

I paid down my student loan as quickly as I could because student loans aren't dischargeable in bankruptcy.  If, god forbid, I ever get into trouble and my back is against a wall, I can file for bankruptcy and get out of bad credit card debt, bad business debt, bad mortgage debt etc, but not bad student loan debt.  It will follow you around FOREVER, so it pays to get rid of it ASAP.  Don't walk around with a stick of dynamite.  Pay off your student loans; make it a priority.