Paying off rental property vs investing monthly profit

Whats the rate?

I'm naturally conservative and risk averse and would pay down principle; my goal would be to get that property in the black as soon as possible, so that I would have the cash flow and increased flexibility to move it on the back end.

You would 100% be leaving money on the table though.

Assuming that you have 3 months of reserves set aside, I would be putting that money into this bull market for at least the next 6 months and then re-evaluate after the market shifts.

Assuming permanent occupancy and no gaps in rent, you're talking about 200,000 extra in cash over the 12 years that you paid off early.

That's in the years that your expenses (medical care, property tax, college funds) will be increasing and you would probably prefer to be more liquid.

It's also a substantial amount you could use on a down payment for another property or other investment.

Again, I would just put more value on more cash at that period of my life than more overall money in equities over the course of the full mortgage.

You really only make a "bad" move if you blow all the extra monthly income from the rental on bad day trades, sink a bunch of money in the rental but can't keep tenants, and then get divorced

I wouldn’t even consider paying down yet until you use that leverage to acquire a shite ton more and get cash flow rolling first. It’s dead equity if you pay off. If you do payoff get a heloc on it and use equity. Some never pay them off. Some Ike to have half their portfolio paid off and carry mortgages on other half. I’ve explained it in RE threads here ad nauseum. Do a search.