The neighborhood of the house that I did see in Brooklyn definitely isn't a Park slope or Williamsburg by any stretch of the imagination, however on my previous apartment hunting adventures, I've seen landlords rent spaces in Brooklyn in sketchy neighborhoods for $2,000+ and people (gentrifiers) pay it!

What's the best play...paying off the first one or stretching the money and investing in the 2nd and 3rd?

@Tim Houzenga fortunately we are not stretching ourselves too far. its not like we would be ruined if we lost some money. thank you for your input

(I would probably try to stretch the balloon to 7 years and the interest rate to 5% and see if you can settle on 6 year balloon at 5.5%)No one is going to accept a 1 or 2 year moratorium.

Here's a few other thoughts/pieces of advice:1) Continue working to pay down that debt, which will afford you easier financing for RE investing later down the road. 2) It sounds like you're already stretched pretty thin, so I absolutely would NOT recommend you add becoming a real estate agent to the mix.

BRRRR strategy is a great way to stretch limited funds.

Will it stretch into the other child series or not?

If paying for 2 appraisals is a stretch, I would be very conservative on your next endeavor on getting a Heloc which is a risky product

The appeal is that flipping a house wouldn’t be a stretch we couldn’t handle, but our current tax situation is pretty ideal.

But if you are buying stuff just to buy and or really stretching the underwriting you can get yourself into a lot of trouble.