<human>: My wife and I have an extremely large load in student loans at an average rate of approximately 5%.  

We are currently able to pay off all loans in one shot, but that would basically deplete our savings to zero.  So I came up with a better idea, and I was hoping to run it by the mad scientists of Reddit:

What if I were to instead purchase a studio apartment using our savings (I reside in a large metropolitan area with exorbitant RE prices and rent) and then take a home equity loan out to borrow money at the current historically low mortgage rates.  I would then use the cash to pay off a large chunk of the principal on the student loans.  I would proceed to rent the apartment out, and would deduct the mortgage interest against the rental income (my student loans aren't deductible at all due to our income being above the threshold, so this is another point in favor of the proposal -- convert non-deductible interest payments into deductible interest payments).  Any proceeds from renting the place out after taxes would go toward paying down the home equity loan.  Mortgages and home equity loans are at around 4% now, so I would be saving 1% in interest.  Once I pay down the home equity line, I now have a studio apartment that I can resell and recoup my cash (possibly even some appreciation) rather than absolutely nothing, which is what I would have by just paying off my loans.

Can you succinctly summarize the text in 1-3 sentences?
<bot>: I would be converting a 5% debt into a 4% debt, and the kicker is some other person will be paying my loans for me.