cash flow vs paying down mortgage

[Josh Butler]

hey everyone,

I just had a general question that I've often thought a lot about and thought I'd pose it to the BP community.

Before deciding to get into real estate, I had always considered the real benefit of owning and renting out properties to be the fact that you have your mortgage paid off for you.  After a couple years of renting a place out... POOF! you have some equity that you didn't have to pay for yourself (assuming a stable market).  

But after having gotten into the community, it seems like the only thing anyone ever talks about is cash flow.  The large majority of investors seem to completely avoid a property that won't cash flow decently.  The idea of having a mortgage paid down isn't even an afterthought.  It's like that benefit doesn't even really exist!  I have come up with my own answers to this question but i wanted to hear peoples thoughts.