Long term mortgage or pay off quickly?

[Adam McIntyre]

I'm having a battle inside my head: • do I put a large deposit down on a house and pay high monthly rates to pay off in ~5 years Or • do I put a low deposit down and stretch the mortgage for cheaper monthly payments and more free cash flow for me Some background information -- I have $100,000 cash to spend and the house I'm looking at is around $150,000 so either way I will need to borrow some cash. The property is in a popular tourist location and will be used as an Airbnb rental. conservatively I expect it should bring in $2,000/monthly, but at worst it should generate $1,000 (already has a tenant paying this). My goal is to generate $6,000 per month in passive income whilst building up a property portfolio in my favourite places to travel between during the year. I don't want to pay rent and ideally I want the mortgages taken care of by tenants (or paid up). But what would you suggest? Paying the mortgage off within 5 years means I can take all the revenue from rentals and then borrow against the house to buy another. It'll take much longer to reach $6k per month but I'll be freed from monthly bank payments much faster. However If I take a longer term mortgage I pay more interest in the long run, but smaller monthly payments mean quicker cashflow for me and smaller payments during low season. It also means I can spread my $100,000 cash over 2-3 property deposits rather than just one. I'd love to hear what you pros suggest. I was always against having debt but since reading bigger pockets I see there can be some big benefits to finance. Thanks in advance!