General: Do you rent or own the home you currently live in?

[Kim Durst]

Curious question. Wondering what the thoughts are out there about investors who are also renters. Anyone? We're looking at going back to renting yet, wish to continue on our investing ventures. 

[Jim K.]

It makes economic sense in a few high-priced areas to rent rather than own, but in places like where I live, it's definitely cheaper to own. It makes even more economic sense to own as modestly as possible, unless you're working a live-in flip, in which case you accept living in a construction zone.

In our case, we're moving out of a $150,000 condo in an upscale suburban neighborhood to a duplex we bought for $45,000 in an urban C-neighborhood. We'll be renting out the other half of the duplex.

The next place we plan to move after that will be a $200,000 rental property we currently own, We'll do a live-in flip there and sell.

These sorts of moves are of course much easier to do if you don't have kids. But in all cases in this business, the notion of owning a majestic family home that costs a lot to live in and maintain and doesn't make you money should go by the wayside until you have a couple million in the bank. We feel we need a dream house far less than we need our financial independence.