I do like the idea of little to no money down, letting them walk away paying nothing should be peace of mind enough not for us to have to spend a few thousand now.

If anyone disagrees and thinks I should (really) buy it, please speak now or forever hold your peace. ;-)Thanks to all that have contributed to this thread.

Peace.

You can not put a price on peace of mind.I have changed my investment strategy to where I am buying properties using cash only and not taking any more debt and it gives me a peace of mind which is very important to me.It's a very tough call, but if I were in your situation, I would probably pay off the CC and student loans first and then move forward with RE investing debt-free.Dave Ramsey will be so proud :)

To me there is peace of mind in this because I really want my first investment to be a low stakes as possible.What I also like about Rochester, is there seems to be a strong rental market.

JR will likely continue to create static in your living situation and you need to have peace at home.Best of luck

Peace! 

But since you can get rid of that smaller loan entirely it can give you some peace of mind and free up a little extra money each month that doens't need to go towards that second loan.A 1% interest spread on 25k is only about $250 per year, so paying it towards the higher interest loan isn't going to save you a ton, and in my opinion not having two seperate payments would be worth that 250 yearly.  

So my main point is, the fees are a great investment if the service is very high as you get peace of mine and protection. 

Peace,Rookie BRR