Personal property - buy or rent? (alongside portfolio of rental properties)

[Joe Noble]

Hi Guys

An interesting scenario:
I am currently renting a nice house from a family member (i.e. using it as my home) for only £200/month (it would normally fetch £600-£700 per month on the open market).

What I wonder is, should I:
1. continue to rent it for quite cheap money and focus on building a property portfolio of rental property. i.e. invest the money saved from purchasing a property for myself to live in, in rental properties (i.e. rent out to tenants) and continue renting my own residence also at £200/month.
2. Purchase my own property to live in and pay approximately £400/month to live in a lesser quality house but at least the monthly mortgage payment for living in my own property are to pay for my own house, rather than £200 going to a family member (however this may also mean less money for me to invest in a rental property portfolio, which I plan to build up over time).

Not sure what is the best way forward starting out. I would have thought may be best to purchase my own residence and then focus on building a rental portfolio after this has been done but seeing as I am getting such cheap rent and such a good house, I wonder if I should save my deposit money and forget about purchasing my own residence to live in and instead just straight way start building a portfolio of rental properties with a view to rent my own residence currently and perhaps purchase a house for myself in maybe 5 years down the line or so.

Any thoughts? Can anyone help or offer some advice?

Thanks