I cant tag him since I'm not his colleague yet, but just search his name or hopefully he sees this since he posts quite a bit.

I have some rentals out in Florida, but hope to purchase some more properties in CA in the next several years.

At current rate of inflation (7% roughly), it loses money owning real estate properties.In 30 years, one would be paying over 1 million dollars for just interest and tax, let alone other costs such as maintenance. 

Remmber being a an agent is really a sales position, which is why many are leary of them --- why else would the association need to develop a Code of Ethics and market it so much (and provide so much training).As you do more deals and network/learn with/from other agents, hopefully you will become a better agent. 

I intend to consult a CPA soon, but I was hoping the community could shed light on my question in the mean time.Thanks in advanced!

If i did sell, i am not sure which way i would go, because the stock market would(hopefully) do better than 3.5% so technically i would make more by putting it into stocks, but it would feel really nice to have a property paid off. 

Hope that helps! 

If you're looking to aggressively grow your portfolio, then I would put as little down as possible (hoping that you're not planning on living off the rental income any time soon). 

Also a side note, when looking at an STR investment in Austin, factor in the high annual property taxes that can get up around 2% of the appraised value of the house (ie house appraised at $500,000, pay $10k/year in property taxes)Hope this helps.

@Greg Hansen I actually saw this July meetup scheduled at Wicked Barley last week and marked it on my calendar and am hoping to attend as well.