Pay off Student Loans? Or Save for Apartment or Mobile Home prop.

[Rick Alvi]

Hey guys,

I'm not sure what to do.. I know eliminating my student debt (I have about 19k) would ease some of my anxiety for sure, but is it the smart thing to do? I want to be financially independent in 10 years. I'd like to invest in my first commercial property in a couple of years. I've heard in podcasts that apartment complex's under 500k usually don't perform too well so it may be hard to save for something of that caliber. I'm hoping that statement is partially wrong since I plan to work hard as I'm still relatively young and want to be able to afford a down payment in a few years. Ideally I'd like to save for a 200k-300k apartment complex or mobile home park. What would you do if you were in my position at 28? Save for my first 5-50 unit apartment complex? Or pay off my 19k student loans? Thanks for your opinion!

[Cody L.]

Depends on the cost of that money.  My wife has some student loan debt still, but we don't pay it off.  Why?  It's at like 3%.   With the same money it would take to pay it off, I could buy an income property that would provide cash flow that far exceeds her payment.