Primary Residence: Cash vs Mortgage

[William Huston]

Hello All, 

I am asking for someone to give more details over a simple question so i can make better understanding of the situation. Previously i asked the forum if i should buy a rental and find somewhere new to rent or buy a house with cash i have and put a downpayment on a rental in the near future. The most common response i got was to use the 100k cash i mentioned and get 5 houses with 20k down, which is not really realistic for me at the moment, because i already have 5 mortgages...

Anyways, my question now is can someone explain to me the better of the 2 options and WHY... currently i am renting somewhere, but im in need of moving in the near future due to situations. im debating either buying something for me to live in as my primary around 100k or maybe doing a loan and putting down 100k down on the property in hopes of buying in a nice neighborhood. My other idea is to just buy and put 20% down since i can use my VA benefits on a primary residence, but i just feel that it be better if i pay off totally or pay off as much as possible on the loan, so i have less living expense.. then save up to possibly buy another rental in the near future.

So the question is pay cash for the property or mortgage and explain why in your answer so i can learn from this...

The reason i have not put the 100k toward one of my other loans is due to them mostly being between 3-4% loans, so just been saving in my Ally high return savings account. 

[Richard Sherman]

@William Huston I would do a mix of the two. Find a 4 unit property (3 is fine, 4 is better) as it will qualify for the same long-term loan (30 year) and you can use VA if you want as long as price doesn't exceed the maximum. Live in 1 unit and rent the other 3 out. You want to control as many units as you can and 4 unit properties with residential mortgages are a GREAT way to do it, that is what we did for the first 16 units we bought.