I currently have enough money to pay down 65% of a California townhome I plan to live in, but that money could easily buy several investment properites in other parts of the country.

My uncle is a real estate agent who owns a property management company. He told me if I decided to buy property in his area he could put me in contact with a birddog and set me up with some nice investment property.

My question is, should I go ahead and pay down my house or buy rental property and let that pay my mortgage?

I say go for it. Of course do the research before you actually "go for it". Buy properties with tons of equity, refinance, pull out the equity, and get more property. Sounds easy? It does, but there are a million things in between. The main thing is don't run out of cash and make sure you can pay all of your mortgages every month. Keep some of your money liquid in case of a rainy day.