It has 5 years left of fixed debt remaining, which makes me feel okay about it.

Think about it, if you are buying something at a 5% cap rate, but interest rates are 6%, the debt payment exceeds the income.

New to real estate but possess a deep understanding of the responsibilities to continue to gain knowledge and remain loyal with my clients and professionally with my colleagues.  

Very recently had someone (who did not need to use the Bitcoin) try to increase their down payment by over a hundred grand, so they could be less in debt, using Bitcoin that had not been adequately seasoned (the Bitcoin has just gone up a zillion percent...).

Cancel bad debts.

@Chris Kay beleive you can do DSR loans without a job as they qualify the property, not the borrower.You'd still need 20-25% down though.That's where you have a decision:- Pay down the mortgage, setting yourself up for a future refinance to free up your VA Entitlement.OR- Save up for your next acquisition.Only YOU can make that decision as you have to be comfortable with the increasing debt-load risk and the additional time to manage everything.

Those rentals debt serviced and also covered my California monthly rent (I know some of you may question paying someone else's mortgage) but at that time, I preferred the renting lifestyle which placed me much closer to work, my family, my clients, and friends.

I always make sure that the properties are cash flow positive, but the large bulk of the money I make from them is from the other items (appreciation, debt paydown, tax benefits, etc). 

Probably not, but I felt better having that debt paid off. 

Taking the higher of the two, that's 52k in debt service for 12 months.