Math?

**I hate math**

I'm about to the point of making a decision.

I bought a house last October. I had a very large down payment and I've been making mega-payments since. At my current rate I'll have it paid off in about 6 months.

My plan was to pay it off, wait a few months and save up a down payment and get another smaller house.

The monkey wrench is that there is this house close to where I live (on the same street) that is for sale. But it is a big/medium house like the one I have already. I like it. I haven't looked inside but if all things are like they should be...I like it.

So, financially, I'm not sure of the best way to go.

PRO of big/med. house.
1. good location
2. more rent
3. more house
4. more interest for deduction on taxes
5. better chance of getting the rent from tenants


Con of big/med house.
1. may take longer to rent
1a. more time of no rent/income
2. larger down payment
3. longer to pay off
4. more interest to pay


Pro of small house
1. would appeal to larger audience
2. smaller payments
3. quicker to pay off
3a. less interest paid
4. would likely be rented (easier to rent)


Con of small house
1. not as much rent
2. more trouble *maybe* of getting rent from tenants
3.


And probably other things I'm not thinking of now.

Something else I can do is stop making my mega-payments and start saving the down payment now.
This all builds on itself. You take the $ from house 1 and add it to house 2. Then $ from 1 & 2 and add it to 3. And so on and so on. The more you have, the more income you have and the quicker they all get paid off.

Time isn't really an issue for me. There are tons of places in town that are for sale. The market is still dead. Which is good for me.
I'm just not sure if it's better to pay off one and then go to another or have two going at one time.

Perhaps it's better to just do something and work with it as it is.


I'll also put in another side goal.....I'd like to buy some land in this mix. The future goal is to build a log cabin. But if I got some land first...I could work on getting that paid off.