A rule of thumb I've always followed was to buy assets and not liabilities. I started out at 20 investing pretty aggressively and not taking on any liabilities while all of my friends were getting new vehicles, buying designer clothes, moving into fancy apartments, and going on vacation whenever they could.
I personally look at buying a house in the way most people do as acquiring a huge liability. Most people buy a house that doesn't give them a reliable amount of appreciation in the short term and usually pay more than they should because of something they like about it.
I got my current house off a post I put on Craigslist about buying ugly houses. It's a side by side twin home. It needed some work done to it so I bought it, was all in at 85k. I then took out financing on it for a total PITI of about $615 a month and I rent the other side out for $925 a month. I could sell it right now for probably $180k+. That's what I would consider an asset.
Now don't get me wrong, on paper I have a bunch of debt. Not cars or credit cards, but rental properties. I don't see those as a liability though because even my worst one has a DSCR of 3x.
I know it's not for everyone, but if it were me. I would look at cash out refinancing the equity you have and buying some assets. Whether it's a house to flip, a rental property you can BRRRR, or both. They have both worked for me great and if you have the spare time it can really help you out. Even if your mortgage when up $100 a month, you could potentially turn $30k into a net cash flow of almost $2,000 a month within a year. That's a $1,900 difference, pkuss if you BRRRR the properties you pull most if not all of your capital out anyways and repeat the process. Now you would have $30k in the bank, $1,900 a month in additional income, and the loan pay down and apprecistion benefits of a couple more properties.
Just my opinion..
