Some advantages of renting are:
- less maintenance
- easier to move if needed
- much less upfront cost (main reason I have to start that way)
Some disadvantages:
- generally higher monthly rate
- less control
- risk of having to shut down or move

I would definitely not suggest renting an apartment for daycare. Right now, I'm looking for houses. Right now I'm browsing and will be seriously looking in about 3 weeks. That will be my main deciding factor in opening up or not. If nobody wants to rent a house to be used for daycare, it won't happen, but since I currently do home renovations, I can tell them that if any repairs are needed, daycare related or not, I can do them myself. That should help.