<prompt> Human: I bought my home in 2010 for 183K. I currently owe 144K on my mortgage with an interest rate of 3.5. Housing in New Orleans has increased in value significantly and when I spoke to my realtor recently, she valued my home at 350K. A home similar to mine about a block away recently sold for 365K and went under contract on the first day it was listed. In mid May, I am graduating with a M.S. in computer science. I started a full time job in January making 64K annually. I took out loans of 15K each year for three years of school which Ill have to begin paying back in November 6 month grace period after graduation. Here is my loan information:Loan 1 private: 16,690 principal is 15,000 with 4.9 interest rateLoan 2 federal: 17,341 principal is 15,900 with 6.21 interest rateLoan 3 federal: 15,434 principal is 15,030 with 5.84 interest rateI have been considering upgrading to a larger home currently live in a 1 bed, 1 bath and it seems like a good idea to extract the value from my current home, pay off my loans, then use the remainder for a down payment on a new home. Assuming I could sell my home for about 350K, the income from that sale would be 200K. Assume 10 realtor fees which would likely be lower, Id have 180K. Take 50K to pay off my loans, Id have a down payment of 130K to put towards a new home. Is this a good idea? What am I not thinking about? What are the tax implications of using income from a real estate sale to pay off student loans? Are there other options I am not considering? What would you do in this situation?Edit: My home is just blocks from the French Quarter, thus its high price on the market. There are several neighborhoods that are more affordable and plenty of nice places on the market that are larger than mine and listed in the 250K to 350K range. Any idea how much of a mortgage I could get with a 120K down payment and a credit score in the mid 700s ..? Or how much of a mortgage I should get given income of 64K? Id have zero debt.  <response>: I just did this in Silicon Valley. I think the basic question I asked myself was: if this situation were reversed and I had the cash available, would I buy my house or do something else with the money? And the answer was: hell no, I would not buy that house, Id rather have the cash, pay off all my loans, and rent for a while until I find my next home. Now there are the implications of selling costs, but if you plan to sell your house in the next 1-2 years anyway holding it now is actually risky. You have all of your money invested in a single asset. Anyway, thats the way I looked at it and I havent regretted it at all. 