I'll have to think more on your point about the strategy, but I think the main things I'm struggling with are how much I want to count on the Houston market rents and/or property values inflating.  

Should I attempt to lower the appraised value to pay less tax or leave this inflated appraised value as is?

The rate of inflation and cost of living is outpacing the minimum wage so fast.

Well I asked about the inflated value.

@Keli A.If you think your nest eggs are a good size and will keep up with inflation, then paying off rentals may be in order to also grow your capital gain assets.

But inflation is a risk and I would take the inflation hedge bet myself.

Remember, if values hold steady and rent stays flat, the purchase power of that money will diminish due to inflation. 

With that, not including discount factors (inflation), it would take 224mo or nearly 20 years of straight payback to make up that extra cash of 56K.

You really have to run the numbers because there are a lot of deals out there that don't make sense in this over inflated market.

But I don't know that you can find any really good providers in those areas that will also have inventory to provide a good cash flow return due to the fact that those are now inflated markets for cash flow properties.