Not owning my residence means somebody else has to worry about all of that stuff for me and I can focus on my income producing properties, building my business, sourcing deals, traveling - you name it.Even though you "own" your home now, you are still paying rent.

First time post, brand new sponge.I am fascinated with the idea of handling income producing properties and have begun learning the basics of cash flow.

When looking for an investment property, you want something that meets your standards and produces a reasonable return.

Lenders typically won't count rents as income until they have been producing rent for a specified time (it's been 2 years around here).If your new home will eventually be a rental, you would probably use the same buying criteria as an investor.

There are any number of ways to invest that money to produce a return.

While all of the strategies you mentioned will provide you with your desired outcome, you have to understand what your activity produces.

Condo/townhouses that produce $2000 rent/month will easily cost $400-500K and a single family house of $3000 monthly rent will be around $700K.

@David LeeRenting has cash flow and tax shelter benefits (I'll learn more about that when I meet with an accountant in the next couple of weeks), but I like the idea of the chunks of cash flipping produces.

Is buying a duplex the best way to go if you have never owned an income producing property?

I do not use forms other then the ones I have had produced, so I can not answer that question.