Buying 1, paying it off, buying another, paying it off ... am i alone?

[Jason Schmidt]

My methodology is very very conservative. A lot more conservative than many here. Most are using other peoples money, and taking equity out of houses to buy another, etc. I just really don't want to get to a point where i have 20 rental properties, all with lots of debt - if each flowed $200 a month, that would be $4,000 a month and thats great! But I couldn't imagine the headaches.

I own my own business, and am planning on paying off my house before I get the next. The next house I hope I will be able to get for $80k or so with 20k built in equity and pay it off like mad over the course of a year or 2. This way I could have $800 or so cash flow and live house payment free. Then keep doing it until my residuals are met. This should take about 5-6 properties and I would be done in maybe 10 years.

This is my exit strategy. If my own business dries up, I don't want to have massive amounts of debt to the point my back breaks. I also want to get to FI the quickest way possible. That means to me, living simply and shoveling as much green into real estate, one house at a time.

Is anyone tracking with me here? Who else is doing this? Who thinks this is smart? Who thinks this is ridiculous?