I own 3 rental properties that are cash flowing. Should I be thinking about paying them off or continuing to build my portfolio? Buying more rentals going to hurt my dept to income ratio? Which is more important, owning the properties free and clear or continuing to build?

I am looking to get into my first so my advice might not be the best. I listen to the pod casts and read a lot on the subject though. It really would depend on your goals. Generally it seems the people that want to grow their portfolios will either harvest the equity through cashout refinance or HELOC and try to get longer term loans. I believe you can only carry about 10 loans at a time after that you need to look into commercial loans which may have balloons or require higher LTV. Another method i see mentioned a good amount is if you bring in a partner with a great dept to income ratio, although I am not sure what the terms of that agreement would look like.