First Step Plans/Questions

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Hello,

  I'm a new BP member and I've been reading a lot of posts recently.  This site is amazing!!  My wife and I are interested in getting into real estate.  With that being said, I'd like to see if you all can give me some feedback on my starting plan and address some questions

Income:  We are blessed with well-paying jobs.  We are currently living on about 46% of our tax-home income (25% of which is our mortgage) and have used the additional 54% to pay off all of our consumer debt (student loans, car notes, etc...).  We just completed this in March and now have roughly 6 months of expenses saved.

Debt:  The only debt we have is our primary residence.  We hold a 306k mortgage on a home and 52 acres.  We currently have a 30 year fixed 4.25% note. We have owned this home for 2 years.  Our monthly payment including tax and insurance is $2036. 

• Should we pay this off 100% before buying our first rental?  We can have this paid off in about 4 years if so.  Maybe less if we take into consideration 2-3% pay increases over the next few years.  I hate to count on things that haven't occurred yet so, 4.5 years would be my target goal.
• If not, would you recommend increasing payments to pay it off in 15 years and start investing now?
• If not, what would you recommend we do with the additional $4000+/- of "extra" cash each month to get started?
• I'm a bit "scared" of debt.  I've read so much on leverage and people appear to look for that but, I don't know if I understand it well enough to embrace it?

Thanks for any feedback!!  I want to take action but, I want to take the RIGHT action.