A Good Problem to Have

With my sister-n-law finally moving out of my in-laws house we are now able to sell it.

My wife’s parents passed away in 2008 and we inherited a paid off house in a nearby town. It has taken awhile(years and years) for my sister-n-law to be ready emotionally and financially to get a place of her own. Our good friends are actually buying the house because they need the bigger space and I do not want to work to get the house into ‘showing shape’. We are glad we can help out friends and they are getting a pretty good deal.

Can you guess which one it is?

All said and done we will clear $135,000. What to do next is the dilemma. For various reason spelled out in earlier post, we will not be giving half to my sister-n-law, we will be paying her a lifetime annuity month to month. So I get the whole lump sum to play with.

The way I see it forming up, I have 4 options;

1. Increase my passive income through rental properties. I could easily buy a duplex with this money and see a positive cash flow (call it $700/month) from here on out. This would provide a stream of money coming in while building equity and it fills a glaring gap in my income diversity.
2. Increase my passive income through continued dividend investment. I already have a healthy portfolio, but $135k can easily translate to almost $400/month with very little downside.
3. Decrease my debt load. My wife and I still owe about $90k in student loans and have a HELOC balance of about another $25k. This house windfall could ZERO out those balances saving $380/month in interest.
4. I could SALT a lot of different accounts. I would take the money, pay off maybe one outstanding loan, beef up the cash holdings, invest a good chunk in the markets, finally get the kitchen updated, and still sit back with a sizable amount waiting for the next good opportunity.

I did not write this article just to create a new post. Although I admit I am the guy who when making a list, adds things to the list I have already done so that I can scratch some things off right out of the gate. I have truly been somewhat frozen about making this decision. I can see the merit in all 4 paths and have made no progress is eliminating any of them.

Your thoughts on the matter would greatly be appreciated.

UPDATE 04/10/2017 – We CLOSED on the House, HERE is what we have done with the Money so far….