Renting rarely brings wealth quickly without the benefit of the luck of rapid appreciation.As to your other question of loaning yourself money via a friend to buy a house, I do that every time I buy a house. 

I help my business partner run his property management company, ERS Management, in town, and we are actively managing about 750 units for approximately 75 local, national, and international investors and are rapidly expanding.I always love to chew real estate and help people find investments that can benefit both parties.  

@Travis BealI love the WNC Mtns and the rapidly growing craft beer scene is a huge added bonus.

Hi Everyone, @David Bayon and I  will be showcasing one of his new flip projects at our new Grand Rapids Meetup.

@Matt Gehrls,while I respect everyone's opinions here and there is a lot of sage advice for sure, one of the things that I think a few people that are a little further away from you might not understand is the strength of the Grand Rapids market right now. 

In my market (Tampa, FL) home prices are rapidly appreciating.  

Rapid inflation is one!  

Charlie,The area is in a great downtown location, no flood plain and I would venture to say that it's in a stagnant economy to where it's at as in this particular case the city is growing rapidly westward. 

If you can pay down your HELOC rapidly, then that's a good option.  

I'm a little worried that I will be hit with a giant tax bill at sale given this area (Durham, NC) is rapidly increasing in popularity and thus cost.