Pay down mortgage or Buy more homes?

[Jared H.]

I'm new to the real estate, in the military and just purchased my first home (3bd/2ba/2car garage) with the VA loan on Oahu for a little over 500k and it's estimated rent is $2,400/mo. I understand this is not sustainable with the mortgage so we are going to pay $50k on the principal to make it self-sustainable.

We should be able to save approximately $50k/yr combined for the next 5 years safely.

Should we pay 40k/yr additionally on the home principal to get it paid off in under 10 years to earn fixed income and sell when we want to retire/start a business? Or should we (after setting aside 30k for repairs/vacancy & paying down 50k for sustainability) continue to pull loans and buy in better markets for more rentals?

We're both young (22/23yrs old) so we'd appreciate any advice from you seasoned guys

[Michaela G.]

Live in it for 2 years and sell it when you get transferred. You'll get any profit tax free, if it's below 500K. You'll be able to use your VA again and buy where you're moving to.