If your debt is being paid at a high rate, your best investment probably would be to pay that down, not even considering other factors like stress, credit score, or safety reserve should something with REI go wrong.With that being said, if you can find a great deal, your expected return on that might be significantly better than your student loan costs, and therefore it would be prudent to jump at such an opportunity.Good luck!

Give yourself a built-in margin of safety for every offer.  

@Dion DePaoli  f IRS redeems  then I think they have to make you whole plus statuary interest which I was thinking was 9%... but any improvements you do to the home past any that are for health and safety of the home would not be reimbursed.I have bought quite a few at the court house steps over the years with IRS liens I liked them actually because 99% of bidders won't bid on them because they cant backfill right away with their LOC or HML... this lead to some pretty spectacular deals in the day. 

The types of tenants who would pay more rent to live in an A building won't put up with the crime and safety issues of a C- 'hood.

And that asbestos is bad stuff- for your own health and safety, I would deal with it first.

I also wish I would have gotten through my thick head that you don't want to own the property, and the idea that the more equity you have the less your return is. yet at the same time it's your safety net if the market falls.

I never used my broker license for a full time job even though I kept it active for about 30 years.i closed a few deals for other people and have only one real estate investment deal for myself.As a safety thing, right after you close on an improved property, get an insurance policy that will protect you if there is a loss.  

It really helps to know your area -- the less you know, the larger the margin of safety you need to factor into your purchase price.  

As soon as you can comfortably do it or have it arranged, change the exterior door locks to provide you some safety.  

Then I ask them how would you like to take that money and invest it in something you are already familiar with and have 100% safety in your investments?