Comparing Strategies: Cash Flow vs Equity/Loan Paydown

[Ralph Noyes]

So, first time real estate investor in St Louis here. Wife and I met with an agent last night and he threw out 2 interesting ways of dealing with financing when house hacking small multi family's:

1) Do a 10 year mortgage at insanely low interest, have the monthly payment barely covered, while paying down the loan and building equity super fast.

or

2) Doing the more traditional 30 year at higher interest, cash flowing strongly, while maintaining the option to pay extra if that's what you want.

Going into the meeting, I had kind of assumed we'd stick with the 30 based on what I've read so far but...wouldn't it be awesome to build equity like that, pay so little interest, have the option to pull significant cash out using HELOC or cash-refi, and the psychological advantage of owning something quickly?

Since we plan to be FI (financially independent) in 10 years, wouldn't it be nice to begin actually owning some of these properties free and clear soonafter? I know that many of you will point out the dangers of vacancy, going  into negative cashflow, etc, but honestly, we have good jobs and are not terrified by the idea of having to dip into our pockets occasionally if needed (we also don't plan on amassing an "empire", probably no more than a half dozen). i.e. We don't need the monthly cashflow to survive, but are more concerned about the long-term overall return. 

What are your thoughts?