Pay Down vs Invest

[Elvie]

I currently have enough money to pay down 65% of a California townhome I plan to live in, but that money could easily buy several investment properites in other parts of the country.

My uncle is a real estate agent who owns a property management company. He told me if I decided to buy property in his area he could put me in contact with a birddog and set me up with some nice investment property.

My question is, should I go ahead and pay down my house or buy rental property and let that pay my mortgage?

[Greg]

That is a very complex question that would have to be subject to a lot of number crunching.

How much money are we talking? What type of mortgage do you have? What is the value? What is the balance? What is the payment? What is the interest rate? What type of loan?

What is the rent you can get?

Knowing very little I would suggest buying multiple investment properties. You may not even need money down to generate positive cash flow. You could put enough down to qualify for a fannie mae program though so you have a great rate on each which would help you generate more cash flow.