You'll get opinions all over the spectrum on exactly where the balance is between paying down debt and using cash to invest, but in my experience, when someone uses words like "horrendous" and "crushing" to describe their debt, the one and only priority should be paying it off as fast as possible.I think it's a mistake to overly focus on increasing income. 

My down-payment will satisfy the remaining balance on their current mortgage, which is necessary in this specific case because the bank won't let the owner provide financing without triggering the due-on-sale clause of their agreement.

(*You could also hire your own appraiser, just for your own edification and for some degree of checks and balances.

We kept the bank balances very low and documented everything we could. 

It's a clause in most mortgages that once the loan has defaulted, you can accelerate the loan to make the full balance due now instead of over the full term.

You know how much it will cost to mail to each name so it's a balancing act of sending as much as you can within your budget.  

But, in the meantime, the income statement is showing net income for the year, and I'm wondering if some investors might not be interested in estimating their EOY tax loss, which they can't do without monthly depreciation and amortization.Should the net 12 month's worth of the loan be broken out a current maturities of long-term debt and shown on the balance sheet as a current liability?

I often see discussions around strategies of how to invest while holding down a full time job, but I don't often see discussions about when there are also kids in the mix.I'm curious for those aspiring and active investors out there with kids AND a full time job what your strategies, habits, systems etc. are for balancing job, parenting and investing.Here are a few of mine:Get up early and get as much done as possible before the little one wakes up. 

Just about every block of Pigtown has a couple of board ups balanced by a couple of really nice renovations, with more in progress.

Each investor has to balance these and decisions about the use of leverage are a key method of doing so.