39-year-old dermatologist bought a $2 million home outside of Miami—why she's never lived there

CNBC

21-07-2025

Anna Chacon always wanted to own a home close to her parents, near where she grew up in Miami, she says.
The 39-year-old dermatologist achieved that goal when she purchased a four-bedroom, three-bathroom home in Pinecrest, Florida, a nearby suburb, for $1.9 million in 2023. But she never ended up moving in. Instead, she lives with her parents and grandmother.
Chacon spent several years away from her family while she was in medical school at Brown University in Rhode Island and completing her residency in Los Angeles. As a result, she's catching up on lost time and savoring the moments she has with her family as her parents and grandma get older.
"I'm proud to [live with them]," she says. "I want to spend every moment I can with them. I want to learn from them."
Chacon pays her family $3,000 a month for rent and groceries, although she spends around $200 a month on groceries and takeout herself as well, sometimes more if she's traveling. Her rent also compensates her family for errands and tasks they do for her while she runs her medical practice.
Chacon earned close to $900,000 in 2024, so living at home isn't about saving money. She lived alone in L.A. during her residency, but didn't love it, she says. She would often eat TV dinners at home or at the hospital. Now, she and her family often prepare meals to enjoy together.
"I feel like I can help them," she says. "I would hate for something to happen to them and me not be there."
Plus, Chacon's private practice is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. She works 80 to 120 hours a week herself, she says, so she doesn't spend all that much time at home anyway.
"I also think it's kind of a waste of money for me to move out because I'm single," she says.
If anything changes, though, she has the Pinecrest house as a backup plan, she says.
So, why did Chacon purchase a home if she didn't plan to live in it?
"I had planned on making it an investment property because I knew real estate was going up more and more in Florida and South Florida, especially in this area," she says. "I wanted to dive in before it got any worse."
The house sat empty for a few months after she bought it until a family friend helped her find a renter. She now makes $7,500 a month in rental income from the property and paid off the mortgage in January 2025.
Even for high-earners like Chacon, paying off a mortgage early isn't a common move because it means less liquidity to invest in other areas. Just under 40% of American homeowners are mortgage-free, according to the most recent Census Bureau data.
But, "I was always taught that debt is a bad thing," Chacon says. So she paid off her mortgage as quickly as possible, a strategy she also took with her first property acquisition — the building that houses her dermatology practice.
She purchased the building in Coral Gables, Florida, in 2022 for $1.1 million and paid off the mortgage in just four months. A medical spa rents most of the office space from her, earning her another $7,500 a month.
Chacon used to be "terrible with money," she says. But her aggressive stock market investing and real estate endeavors have helped her build up a net worth of over $6 million as of June 2025.
She has no plans to retire early, or ever, as she "loves to work." But she's proud of the safety net she's built for herself and plans to continue making sure she has the means to support her family and be able to leave a situation or do something else if she's not happy, she says.