40K/yr to invest: Pay down home OR buy more

[Andrew Horner]

Hey there! 

TL;DR:

I'm 29, have 40K to invest per year, but don't think I should "buy high." I'm not confident I'll get great deals on houses in this market. Should I just pay down my own mortgage for now, use my house as a savings account, and leverage it to buy rental homes when the economy dips? Or should I just get started buying houses? 

More detail:
I have a salary of $70K that I live on. Two months ago I bought our first house ($250k, Austin, TX, via FHA). I'm new to being employed, having run my own business (graffiti art, colorcartel.com) since I graduated from college 4 years ago. But even employed, I've been able to continue making money with my murals at the same rate. So I've decided to live on my salary, and dedicate $40k/yr of my art income to investing. If I just pay down my own mortgage, would it be easy to leverage this to a buy a house or two when we have our next recession? Or should I just suck it up and try to find good deals now?

Thanks!
Andrew