@Drayden Morgan  several ways actually;  principal paydown, equity appreciation, future rent appreciation, tax savings, you control the property in an upswing market, etc. but from a big picture the advantage of a subject to is that you have near zero risk to control a large appreciating asset.

With a mortgage, selling within the first 7ish years is not great because you pay mostly interest during this time and the principal balance doesn't go down by much.  

I failed to mention I put 20K down so I financed 175k and have made additional principal payments and only owe 161k on the property.

It really matters if you are the principal owner of the home or if this is an investment.       

Over the 15-year time period you lived in the purchased house you will have spent $50,000 on the down payment, $70,000 on reducing principal (equity), $108,000 in interest, $37,500 in repairs and $13,500 on insurance and $72,000 on taxes.

Standing on principals is a total waste of time and energy. $75 is nothing in the bigger picture.

Principal pay down is your friend.

Of course, investing out of state carries with it certain risks the most prevalent being the typical principal agent trust issue of your 'boots on the ground' resource. 

All in all for $275 a month I own my very first property.My question is, would you recommend paying down the principal quicker, or saving the excess money Id use and use it for a down payment on another property?

If it's enough to cover the repairs though this may not be a bad thing because it will be a lower principal balance and will likely be a lower interest rate.A third possibly option is finding a commercial lender that will do a construction to perm financing.