@Isiah Ferguson it's fantastic that the two of you were able to meet in the middle. Good schools and neighborhood is important for a family. We're kind of in somewhat of a similar predicament as far as what to do with our equity. I was all about paying things off because i thought it was the right thing to do and being debt free sounds amazing. I also find it a bit stressful to leverage and buy more. My husband convinced me to use our capital towards other investments because of the time value of money and the properties being paid off on their own over time. In 2018, we used our savings to buy an out of state investment and rented it out. It was a success so this year, we took a $100k cash out refi on our primary and used $30k of it to buy another out of state, that one is now rented out. I'm in the process of doing another $100k cash out refi with one of our in state investments and im torn between that or 1031 exchanging it. It's about an hr away from where we live. It also has a small hoa fee but the real kicker is every year they pick on all the properties and send violation letters to do work on them. I'm thinking of selling that one and buying something near our neighborhood. Doing this will not only increase our net profit by $200-300k, it'll also bring in the save us the commute and hoa headaches. So I'm kinda stuck unsure what to do. I wish choices were easier to decide on, lol! Anyways all the best and hope you make the decision that is right for you all now and for the future.