My point is that in our market you would be best served by paying down your loan; you will save $ on interest and improve your credit score.

They also look for a good credit score ... so even if you prefer cash I'd get a credit card and pay it off in full every month to establish good credit history (and reap some good cash back or bonus point type rewards).

@Immanuel Sibero when I punch 100K divided by 1M in a calculator I get 0.1 -- Not .10 -- I realize that this must be incredibly rudimentary but math is definitely not my strong suit.

I got my fico score to a 720.

Every time a new listing hits the MLS, it's literally a matter of hours before the first offer rolls in (and several more after it), which makes it incredibly difficult to get your offer accepted and beat the competition.  

So if anyone wants the leads let me know- if one scores and you want to send me a small referral fee that's great- but no sense letting them go to waste.

This project is incredible.

Those are the ones that "get it" in my opinion.Few comments to consider:sounds like you are on the right track with the credit score.  

James, you should consider writing a blog post about your process; I'm sure there's an incredible amount of learning to be taken away from your experience.Best of luck in the transition period !

Do you have credit scoring requirements?