paying rent and bootstrapping - what alternatives are there?
JacobAldridge: One option may be to consider what sounds like multiple needs (a place to host people, dedicated business space, a space to sleep) and see if separating those allows you to spend less on rent.For the bought property to cost you less than renting (making generalisations about the area you live in, interest rates etc) the Investor would probably need to stump up a sizable chunk of cash into the property. Most property investors (myself included) are mindful that equity growth in real estate, when it happens, is normally only a few % points above inflation - it's profitable because you leverage a bank's money - you only put in a small amount of cash, so those few % points are pretty good against your investment. A simple example that clearly ignores interest costs, maintenance etc  I put 10% ($30K) into a $300K apartment, and owe a bank $270K. 
  The market grows by 5%, so the apartment is now worth $315K 
  but I still only owe the bank $270K so my $30K has grown to $45K
  a 50% return.

Now if you need an investor to put in a sizeable chunk, that equation will be different.  I put 40% ($120K) into the same $300K apartment. 
  After the growth of 5%, my $120K is worth $135K. 
  That's a 12.5% return.

At the upper extreme, if I invest 100% of the property my growth is 5% - better than bank interest in the US at the moment, but only just. Not an attractive deal (and I still haven't factored in interest and other cashflow costs).So that's my response to your out-of-the-box idea - for it to help you (by reducing or removing rent / mortgage costs) it probably won't be attractive to an investor (smaller returns than more diversified investment). Happy to be proved wrong, and different investors do have different needs!