Once a landlord gets into leaving "a somewhat decent bottle of wine" and any sort of Martha Stewart branded product for a tenant (@Jill F. you made me laugh out loud), I just have to throw up my hands and walk away from all this aspirational parvenu nonsense.The very best wine I've had in my life was sold for ten euros for a 1.5 liter PET water bottle of it out of a big old glass νταμιτζάνα in my second cousin's buddy's shed on a tiny Greek island you've never heard of.

Is it better financially in life to own a house or rent?

I am not familiar with any other states as I've lived in NYC my entire life. 

I dont know if MI had finally cycled that inventory as there were thousands upon thousands of homes that met that description but i would say 90% of the US real estate markets are far from this.In fact the opposite.

Something to keep in mind is that we are in late stages of the cycle, so you may only want to borrow 70 percent of ltv.   

It's called the "Cycle Monitor".

I regularly listen to the BiggerPockets podcasts, have read "Set for Life" and "The Book on Rental Property Investing" and I am eager to continue learning about the world of Real Estate Investing. 

Lived in East Providence for most of my life.

This means I need to buy products that have a good life span but are reasonably priced enough to make a profit.

There early in there long term debt cycles and a young country.