Let’s flip that thinking on its head for a moment. Refinancing a house to buy rental properties is one of the very best was to not only buy houses but to exponentially grow wealth and cash-flow. Buying a house is all about what you do with it and if you follow through. In my opinion, it’s foolish to live in the house you own if you never pull the equity back out to reinvest elsewhere (similar to what you’re saying). Basically, the middle class falls in the trap of not following through on the best investment they could make.