Debt free or go for it?

[Shawn Thom]

I will try to make this short and sweet and to the point. I'm not into spilling my guts on the internet, but here goes.

I am looking into getting into real estate investing. My cousin who is very successful is coming over this week to talk to me about it and help me get started.

My background: A few things in my childhood and my dad's job loss(es) shaped me into hating debt. I am approx 23 payments away from having the last piece of debt (my house) paid off (approx $140k value). Some soul searching recently has made me analyze why I hate debt and led me to look at my fears and try to approach them differently. I have thus starting looking into creating an additional income stream from real estate as being a better alternative. I can go into more detail on that if you want, but don't want to loose too many people on a long post.

So my question is this... I have been thinking about taking some of the equity out of my home to use for fix and flips or rental property. If you were in my position what would you do? Debt free at age 38 is a dream of many people.... but I do feel exposed since the job market is a little shaky and my wife stays at home with the kids.

Has anyone on here had to make that decision? Any advice on what I should think about before taking the plunge? Am I being dramatic?