However, by doing so, it reduced my cost of living by over $600 a month, and I was able to purchase a fully remodeled property that allowed me to market to the highest quality tenants in the area, and I had a 2 year lease signed before my first mortgage payment was due.  

If not, I would highly recommend doing so!

I've done some localized studies and the numbers of owner occupied buyers versus investor buyers in several of my current markets are 10 to1 ratio and as high as 25 to 1. 

I've been educating myself highly in REI before I decide to purchase my first investment property.

I feel yours is overpriced unless it's smack in the middle of downtown with high-end furnishing. 

Several factors could explain why the homeownership rate remains relatively high.

They've been a life saver, and have provided many updates and repairs to my home to maintain the value and quality of the home.

I think they do a lot of work in high rise buildings where clearing a line affects 20 units at a time. 

Being able to do min one week stays would be nice if that would allow the property to generate more revenue.If the property has already appreciated a fair amount in 2 years it would be a bummer to sell now just because the rate is high. 

So we've got a return of 23% on our first and a return of 175% on our second.TL;DR - Are owning free and clear assets better than having high rate of return?