Amortization sweet spot

[Andrew Ware]

I rarely ever see anyone talk about amortization. So I'm trying to figure out how I should be thinking about this. In the first years of a loan you pick away at the principal very slowly. Is it worthwhile to use cashflow to pay principal directly for a few years? Part of me says yes, but then I say if I had that extra cash I should probably be getting more deals and multiplying the effect. So does it simply boil down to risk or is this part of a strategy people use?

[Emily Lopez]

I think it's your comfort zone honestly.  It's just like the pay off your personal mortgage vs. new investments argument.  I get that often the numbers support investing more but others argue the peace of mind of paying off your own mortgage is entirely worth it.  I always pay extra.  Not a lot, just a little.  On a larger scale I am saving for new properties but I put a few extra hundred a month toward my mortgages so I can pay my first handful of properties off within less than 20 years of buying them.  I am also just a small scale investor with both my husband and I have full time jobs.  We're not big wig investors living off of real estate...yet ;)