I’d rather have some of that in cash than watch it go down or sideways. 

Looking to see if there is an interest in the community for this.Thank You Hey Manny, I'd love to get on a zoom call with you.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, experiences, and any advice you can share.

With a full gut like this, I’d rather overestimate than get caught off guard mid-project.

I plan to stay in this general area for at least the next 20 years and think buying real estate would be a great way to diversify my investment portfolio.So in almost any scenario you will come ahead buying vs renting over twenty years probably well less than half of that, but the investment you are making is a long term investment you probably won’t be able to leave after a year or two and rent for more than your mortgage, I’d really think about where you want to live medium-long term, than any investment metric, because the longer you stay the better the investment looks, and if you can move out sooner great, but I’d guess at minimum you’d have to stay 5 years before rents would catch up to your mortgage. 

Let me know if you need more ideas, I'd be happy to connect! 

I’d recommend reaching out to mortgage brokers who specialize in investor loans—they often have access to niche lenders.All the best!

I’d encourage you to think outside the box when sourcing off-market properties rather than simply replicating someone else’s strategy—what works for them may not necessarily work for you.Additionally, connecting with real buyers who can close on deals is crucial.

CT isn't cheap so if you plan on doing it there you are going to surprised at how poorly you do. maybe in the suburbs I'm not sure but as much as I know people call us from CT and everyone is rich and has lots of money and things are expensive out there. build to rent is a great model. we build 3 story walk up infill and keep it to the residential side. 3 units is the most units before it's commercial and you need engineering, etc. check comparable and things liek that. we came up with this design a year ago and we sold 10 if you want to talk further please DM me happy to connect. there are some great build to rent conferences. we went vertical not horizontal with it to save on build costs and design to fit on any infill lot. this fits on a 3500 square foot lot. most lots in our area are 30x120 or 30x150. in miami where I live now they are 50x100 or so. but any infill lot we can pretty much get this one on. there are some great build to rent conferences coming up too that if you like this topic I'd recommend attending I'm sure you'd learn a lot.  

If you'd ask this question while still employed I'd say apply the $8500 toward knocking down the debt quicker but since that is not the case I would build up your reserves to about 6 months then begin applying those funds to bring down the debt.