I hate the idea that there is always something I would want to change about where I'm living, however putting money into a rental house would be just throwing it out the window when we move (depending on what you do to the house). Now say I have 30-40k to spend, if I bought a house for 15-20k that needed some love, I could pour the rest into making the house exactly what I want and have no mortgage/rent. I understand that any house I would pick up for that amount of money would need a lot of work, but with the budget at hand it could arguably be made at least livable depending on the shape of the house when purchased. Then I could just take what I save each month not paying rent or a mortgage and put that into making the house what I want. This is all just an idea I have been tossing around for a bit.