Rent it out and over 1 year or 2 when it gets close to stage 4 selling the last few homes there is usually some nice built in equity spread.If you are buying an existing home at 1% rent to sale ratio and holding try finding an under valued property in a nicer area where at least rent growth should be stronger with a good mix of appreciation.

I have a home that I purchased in 2011 and now it has 185K in equity and I would like to turn my PR into a rental.

So while you might choose to invest in debt, which has no appreciation, or you can also choose to invest in equity which does.On one hand it sounds to me like you are staying that to tolerate any loss of your money.

Compounding can help you build some additional equity, but you're going to get a lot more bang for your buck earning income right at the start of your wealth building efforts.My younger brother asked me a few days ago if he should be concerned about the recent market drop and think about finding somewhere else to put his $10,000 in equities. 

A recent editorial in the Star Tribune written by Owen Duckworth of the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability regarding evictions in MN ended his piece by writing, "And to cure chronic housing inequity, we need systemic changes that put power and ownership in the hands of tenants, not private landlords." 

After 10 years:1) A flipper will have a nice chunk of money in a retirement account but will have to keep flipping to eat.2) A buy and hold investor will be able to retire and will be making the equivalent of 100k per year with about 1mil in equity in their homes.

If I purchased with lease a house for 200k, and 7 years go by and 100k in equity, can I purchase the property for 100k then retail it, or, could I assignment my lease contract to another investor?

This doesn't take into account a cash out refi and the fact that if the market value is 100K and the purchase price was only 75K, then you have 25K in equity right off the bat.

I own a business that is successful but drains me daily and I would love to create financial freedom to do what I love and have more time for my family.I currently own a home that has about $200,000 in equity. 

With about $150K in equity you are only looking at about $200/mo in cash flow, giving you a 1.6% return on equity.