@Matt 'Roar' Gardner do you have any insight?

The idea of escaping the "rat race" is something I have aspired to since I was in my mid twenties.

However, in the twenty years we have owned the property, it has been rented out for 8 years. 

I was reading and learning about real estate around my twenties.

I plan to stay in this general area for at least the next 20 years and think buying real estate would be a great way to diversify my investment portfolio.So in almost any scenario you will come ahead buying vs renting over twenty years probably well less than half of that, but the investment you are making is a long term investment you probably won’t be able to leave after a year or two and rent for more than your mortgage, I’d really think about where you want to live medium-long term, than any investment metric, because the longer you stay the better the investment looks, and if you can move out sooner great, but I’d guess at minimum you’d have to stay 5 years before rents would catch up to your mortgage. 

Twenty of the the homes were BRRRR and two were full conversions from single-family to assisted living. 

I am a twenty year plus licenses GC who has built over 100,000,000. in commercial and residential construction in the NY, NJ, PA, CT and CA marketplaces.

My draw down period is ten years of interest only payments then twenty years principal plus interest after that. 

It was a true chestnut log cabin, circa mid 1800s, right on the Roaring Fork River in Gatlinburg.

One hundred and twenty-five. well I guess it better than a 125.00 capital call..