If you keep contemplating all those options at the same time, you're not going to hone in on something as easily.

My husband and I are very eager to dive into real estate investing ASAP, but we are contemplating whether or not to pay down a bigger chunk of my debt with my salary first OR pay the required payment only and use the rest of my salary to buy our first rental.

It's a crap market so lenders don't want to help and you struggle to gain velocity, and even though you've got your safety set aside, you feel really scared because you keep reading about all the people who've lost everything in real estate because of whatever terrifying thing caused them to go broke.One night, you're sitting out contemplating the state of your life and you realize that had you chosen to act two years ago in August of 2020, you would have a half dozen doors, cash flow of several thousand a month, and a net worth nearing a million dollars.

What you are contemplating is a long term speculative play so you should not invest more than you can afford to lose. 

Two days later when I texted her if she heard from the sellers she told me the seller was not going to contemplate anything less than asking price and was giving me and the other people who submitted the offers one more chance to come back with best and highest offer.

Two days later when I texted her if she heard from the sellers she told me the seller was not going to contemplate anything less than asking price and was giving me and the other people who submitted the offers one more chance to come back with best and highest offer.

The conservative part of my brain tells me to get rid of this property as it is one less thing to worry about with all these other things going on.Basically, I am contemplating whether it is worth holding on to this property with hopes it's value increases like it has over the past 2-3 years or if I sell it for cash flow to put to better use in other real estate ventures.

Make sure you fully understand the area you are contemplating investing in first.

My husband and I are contemplating the same question for a potential investment townhome. 

How many brokers would you interview and how far in advance of contemplating a sale would you do so?