Don’t deploy your dollars to a losing proposition. 

It would be 4 years out until that $125k was fully deployed.   

Meanwhile, I'm a 30-year-old former Ranger qualified Army officer who deployed to Afghanistan at age 23 as a Platoon Leader.

 maybe you can find someone local with excess furniture to deploy (like a staging company).

I have 400 k that I would like to deploy for real estate and would like to start soon.

So I would just build out scenarios for deploying that equity.

Midwest property might get you a bit more % wise, but the lower price points just mean less funds to deploy because no one is paid in percentage points.I'm local to you, rented for a long time because it was better from a price standpoint then buying.

As an investor with access to home equity and cash interested in flipping or brrrr where the initial investment is deployed for a short period, what concerns would folks raise from a tax, legal or finance perspective on the following strategies? 

Just some things to think about for you.Mike, I'm a veteran thats currently deployed.

If not, you may be better served NOT to prepay for the reasons others have mentioned - the renter pays your mortgage, so the cost of funds is not yours to bear, and the cash in your hand can be deployed where it does you the most good.