Buy a primary residence or rental property?

[Shamim Toufighian]

My wife and I moved to Los Angeles about a year and a half ago and we're hoping to get back into REI. We own a rental property in Atlanta that's been rented out for about 10 years now and hope to start getting more property.

We've saved up some money that we want to invest. My main question that I'm hoping to get some advice on is if it would be smarter to use the money we've saved up to purchase a primary residence here in Los Angeles so we're no longer throwing money away on rent, or if we should use that money to invest in a rental property, either locally or some place like Atlanta, where I'm familiar with the market and is definitely more affordable.

We're trying to educated ourselves and gain as much advice as possible before making any serious decisions.

Thanks in advance for any advice!