Pay Toward Rental Mortgage, or Save For the Next One?

[Jen Faulkner]

Hi!  I haven't been on BP for very long.  We own five rental units in our area (four apartments and a house), so we're still small potatoes.  I really have big dreams of owning a lot more, but I don't know at this point whether to use our income surplus towards those rental mortgages or to start paying them off.  At the moment, we have two mortgages.  I'm sure I'll get differing opinions on this.  Part of me really wants to get things moving along with more profit, and then use that new profit to start paying off the other properties.  But then there's the other part of me that would feel really great about starting to pay them off now, but then there wouldn't be any new income coming in until they're paid off.  What do all you other investors do?  Are you willing to take on more debt if you know you're income will be more than your expenses?