Pay off Mortgage or buy Rental Property?

[Christopher Mitchell]

Good Morning BP Community!
I graduated from college about 6 months ago (debt-free), and have been lurking on the BP forums for quite some time. You guys inspired me to purchase my first townhome! Currently, I am using House Hacking and have a little less than 100k left on the mortgage. Over the coming months, I will be receiving an inheritance, (approx 50k) and was debating on whether I should use this money to help pay off the current mortgage, or take the money and use it as a down payment to purchase a rental property?

An additional concern that I have is:
Parents are telling me to pay off the mortgage, save for another down-payment, and purchase a Single family home in the future. This is solid albeit, very conservative advice, and I fear that by going this route I may delay my progress to reaching Financial FREEDOM!

I was interested in learning what the community might have to say about the topic.
I eagerly await your opinions!