Am a landlord but renting house to live in

[Jessica Herschberg]

First time poster...found this site today and have been GLUED to my computer all afternoon!
I am so confused about what I should do in my current situation. I own three houses free and clear in Florida but have been renting a house to live in here in TN for over 2 years now since I don't have cash for a down payment. Two of my FL houses are rented and one has family in it.
If you were in my shoes and you were sick of being a renter, what would you do? Sell the houses at a HUGE loss (100K loss on one, 90K loss on second), take out equity for a down payment, sell as owner financed, etc. I go back and forth on various scenarios and end up doing NOTHING.
I love being debt free but I would love to own my own home again instead of being a renter.
Would love any thoughts/opinions from all of you wiser, more seasoned real estate pros.

[Account Closed]

Hey Jessica. Welcome to BP. Technically, you're not debt free. Wanna know why?? Every month you have a financial obligation called rent. What's the difference if you have to pay rent or a mortgage? Either way, ya gotta pay to stay. My advice is to take some money out of one of the free and clear properties. This is tax free money you can use to put down on a property. Not only that, but the intersest is a tax write off. You can either buy your primary with this cash so you still only have one debt obligation, or use it to leverage and get a mortgage. You'd then have two mortgages, but two write offs as well. Personally, I'd try to take out enough to pay cash for the primary if you're worried about debt. Good luck!