Should I purchase a home to live in or a rental property FIRST?

[Zach Simpson]

I've heard different opinions on this. I'm 23 years old with a wife and 10 month old daugher. We just moved to the Houston, Texas area and I've recently just started making good money for the first time in my short adult life. I work in the door to door sales industry selling pest control. I'm in the position that I can start seriously considering real estate options now. Granted, by no means do I want to get over zealous and just jump straight in. Ive really wanted to buy my family a home (real estate is stupid cheap here) but I also would like to hear if anyone would say to keep renting and spend the money on investment real estate instead. We both hate renting for the simple fact that we prefer not to pay money for things we acquire no equity in and aren't fans of living by other people's rules. Nonetheless, we mainly want to just make the correct financial decisions because those will be better in the long run. Thank you in advance for your help.