Am I a bad investor? Or does this enable FIRE?

[Matt Ayoub]

I have two rental property investments. 1 SFH in San Diego purchased in 2010 for 900k, currently valued at 1.4m, generating $5,500 in rent a month. 1 SFH (+ guest house) STR / Airbnb in Cabo Mexico purchased in 2016 for 800k, fully furnished / renovated for 150k, and now generating about $10k per month in revenue and valued at 1.4m+.

Having a high paying corporate job and choosing to live very frugally I made the decision to pay off the 4.75% fixed rate loan on the San Diego property and used a large portion of my savings to pay cash for the Mexico property. Does that make me a bad investor? Why would I do that?

Well I don’t assume I will have a high paying job forever and I have 3 kids. For me the worst case scenario is now a guaranteed roof over our heads with no major bills (granted Cali property taxes at 1% are not insignificant). I own outright two very nice properties and can choose to live in one and rent out the other and hopefully provide my family with a decent life in a beautiful place almost no matter what. I can further choose to supplement my income as a Starbucks barista or similar and exit the corporate rat race fully.

Anyway curious about your thoughts? Smart or foolish? Any strategies to consider unlocking value or diversifying further? How to mitigate future risk?

PS I currently work, live and rent overseas.