Should I buy a primary home at all?

[Cameron Price]

My current situation:

Stay at a friends property in an Accessory Dwelling Unit.

Rent free.

No primary residence 

Single

Low personal monthly bills.

My question is, from strictly a financial perspective, would it make more sense to stay where I am or look for a primary residence as part of maybe a fix and flip?

Obviously I increase my living expenses if I buy a home. But what are the downsides to not having a primary residence? Does it look bad when tryig to get financing?

I've been considering finding a 3 or 4plex and using the strategy of living in one, but I like my privacy. Plus I own a landscaping business. I don't think parking my equipment next to my tennants sounds real smart. Lol.

What I would like to do is build a tiny home on a small piece of land somewhere close and stay there, but thst has no potential to make money like living in a slow flip. Or using the 2 year occupancy rule to make tax free capital gains.

So to wrap up my questons, what is the most profitably living situation? 

[Account Closed]

Cameron,

You think like a businessman. I like it. Buying a 4-plex is the way to do. Rinse and repeat a couple of times in a couple of years and you'd be owning a couple handfuls of rentals. Short-term sacrifice for long-term gain. 

As an owner occupant unit, you can buy for as little as 3% down compared to 25% down on an investment property. That's a huge advantage. Knowing what you want is very important because it will get you off the rat race sooner rather than later. As they said in Hockey, a good player goes where the puck is while a great player goes where the puck will be. 

@Jean Bolger, funny I just went through this situation with my cousin. The bank will need a letter from the friend stating that you live there for free so no DTI to count against your borrowing capacity. @Jay Hinrichs and I live in high cost areas where the MID (mortgage interest deduction) is lucrative especially if you're in a high tax bracket. You're absolutely correct that the MID is worthless in lower housing cost areas. It's like they intentionally put us on this treadmill where the more you borrow, the better. Until you're over-borrowed and over-leveraged, and they foreclose on you. LOL!!!

Cameron I'd take what Grant Cardone said with a grain of salt. I wouldn't be surprised that he's writing off that skyrise condo in Miami as a business expense; thus, he's renting. As you're already thinking like a businessman, I'm sure you already knew about it.

Good luck with 4-plex hunting.