It's the road less traveled so you'll want to make sure that you have the right mental fortitude to make it happen for yourself but it's more possible than people our age have been led to believe by advertising a schools.

Which is pretty much the point I was trying to make... if you balance the personal home/investment property mentality when buying, you are likely to be able to make your personal home a good investment as well. 

People moving to single family homes have a mentality to do it anyway.

I have burnt myself pretty bad (sorry for the terrible pun here) twice for this mentality.

I also want to retire around age 50-55 comfortable, which I would define as 150k/year in a lower cost city, and the retirement plans aren't good until my 60s.That is my goal, nothing more or nothing less.About me:I'm a mid-30s single without kids working in the Pacific Northwest , making around 190k on a W2.To help you understand my mentality, When I moved here several years back, I did not buy a house which in the appreciation mindset was a mistake.  

The problem in the ghetto is a handout mentality.

Then again, paying everything off, adopting a "fire" mentality for a few years, and suddenly you have options. 

That way you can mentally prepare for that bill at the end. 

I didn't want to lose earnest money so I justified the purchase mentally not the best idea I ran what if number based in what I knew and I tried to be really realistic about it.

@JD Randall I love this kind of mentality and this is how you succeed.