The takeaway is that yes, while inflation destroys cash, it is still king.

Me personally - I expect inflation to remain higher than market expectations for the foreseeable future, and I feel that I can always find investments that yield more than 7%, so I probably wouldn't pay the balance down if it were me. 

Financial freedom requires:Your rental income must increase faster than inflation so you will have enough money to cover inflated costs in the future.

The combination is that high LTV financed RE is not only at an all time high but in terms of inflation adjusted cost is at greater than 40 year high.  

You can’t just inflate it 20% and then offer a 20% discount.

I have only done 2 flips since then because of the margins but never in a million years did I imagine the market inflating as much since then. 

Don't we think investing in the US is risky with high interest rates, historically low affordability and cash flows and high prices inflated by 15 years of artificially free money that's gone for good?

Want to move to a really great Debt/Equity position.Paying off debt goes against both REI strategy of leveraging debt and also inflation, paying off with cheaper dollars and having hard assets to ride the increase in value due to inflation.  

Are buyers/investors picky and particular about what exact parameters house falls under, regardless of how good of an investment it is based on verifiable (not inflated) numbers and metrics from data sources? 

And as I talked about in Bigger Pockets Podcast #82, imho capital gains tax should be indexed to inflation.