Do you rent instead of own?

[Ben C.]

Do any of you rent instead of own (by choice) and use that free capital to invest in real estate instead (i.e. Flips etc)? When buying a home you have a lot of additional costs: Down payment Mortgage payments Property taxes Property insurance Maintainence costs Limit amount of loans you can get Love to hear from you all!!

[Cassandra Parrish]

I currently rent. I own a duplex and rented out one unit while I rented out the other and I DID NOT like having tenants as neighbors  (I am a pretty private person). I think I did a great job of setting limits but one tenant would constantly invite me out for coffee, vent about personal issues and assume because my car was parked on the property, I was available to her. In the beginning it was totally worth it since I had some control over who I picked as a neighbor but it makes for a long 12 months when you realize your neighbor/tenant is high maintenance.