Maybe a silly question about my first potential rental

[Alex Paul]

Hi all, we (my wife and I) recently purchased our first property in Southern Ca.  It's a 2/2 condo that fit our budget at the time of purchase.  The goal was not to offer this unit for rent for a few years (read 3-5).  We planned to save the down for another house over that time and rent out this property when we moved.  That being said, we didn't save on the purchase, we paid fair market.  If we had to sell now, we would break even, maybe walk away with 3-5k in our pocket.  Things have taken a major swing for the better in our lives and we are now looking to move less than a year after we purchased.  I still want to stick to my original buy and hold strategy and rent out the unit because I expect it to be cash flow positive after 3-4 years.  

Summation of facts:

-Bought condo for residence 7 mos ago

-Will rent apartment in 3-6 mos and put condo for rent

-Condo currently cash flows negative because I paid market value with little $$ down.

-Want to purchase second rental property while living in apartment

Should I aggressively pay down balance on condo to create positive cash flow sooner, then look for other properties?

-or-

Should I look for other properties to get additional units working for me and not worry about this first unit?

My end goal is $15k-$20k monthly net rental income by retirement (15-20yrs)

[Jerry Padilla]

@Alex Paul

Why not live in the property for a year and then looking at purchasing another property, as a primary that is larger? Why rent out for negative cash flow and then try and rent somewhere else? 

Interest rates are great right now. I would recommend saving for more down payments and reserves rather than paying down the mortgage.