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Grant Cardone "Buying a House is for Suckers"

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

CPisHere

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Saw this video, thought I'd get people here's opinions.

Here's some of his points -

Unless you have 20 million in the bank, in cash, you have no business buying a house.

A house is the worst investment you will ever make. If there is no income don't invest in it. Sell your house and buy rental property. I know this sounds crazy, but rent where you live and own what you can rent to others. This will create amazing wealth for you and your family over your lifetime.
 
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VDon

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A house is the worst investment you will ever make. If there is no income don't invest in it. Sell your house and buy rental property. I know this sounds crazy, but rent where you live and own what you can rent to others. This will create amazing wealth for you and your family over your lifetime.

Living in an owned property is - most of the time - nonsense and should be avoided at all costs. Renting is the much better option most of the time.
 

CPisHere

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Living in an owned property is - most of the time - nonsense and should be avoided at all costs. Renting is the much better option most of the time.
Can you expand?

What circumstances change your view?

My opinion is that if you can't absolutely commit to stay in the house at least 10 years, buying is a poor decision.
 

ravenspear

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I disagree. Buying a house you cannot afford is for suckers, I would agree with, and this is what most people do. Also, putting a huge percentage of your net worth into one house is also stupid, which is again what most people do.

But buying a cheap house is a better deal than renting, assuming the down payment is not all or a huge percentage of your net worth.

I'm buying my first house this year and I ran the numbers in detail. I'm currently spending $1200/mo on rent. If I buy a small condo or house in my area, I will be spending around $500/mo in mortgage interest, around $250/mo in property taxes, and around $75 on insurance. That's $825 monthly outflow. (Mortgage principal is simply an investment in real estate so its not calculated as an expense). But I will be getting around $300 in additional income from tax deductions on mortgage interest and property taxes, AND around $500/mo in home value appreciation assuming a conservative 2% rate of appreciation (most houses in my area are appreciating faster). Add those and I will be getting $800/mo in new net inflow. So essentially that's breaking even. My net worth will neither increase nor decrease (~$825 out/~$800 in) from having a mortgage on a small house, due to buying within my means (keeping mortgage interest low), getting the tax advantages from home ownership, and factoring in a conservative rate of home appreciation. This is a MUCH better deal than losing $1200/mo in net worth through renting.

Obviously I'm not factoring in maintenance here but that will be nowhere near $1200/mo so it's still a much better deal than renting. I'm also aware that the closing costs are a net worth hit but they will be paid for within 6 months by my calculations.

Many people forget that home ownership is tax incentivized (at least in the US) and proper tax planning is one of the critical components to creating wealth.
 
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VDon

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Can you expand?

What circumstances change your view?

My opinion is that if you can't absolutely commit to stay in the house at least 10 years, buying is a poor decision.

I could elaborate for hours on this topic, but due to my bad english I prefer not to go to deep into detail. o_O

It all depends on where you live too. Here in Austria you get many tax advantages by renting out property (depreciation, cost for renovation deductable and so on).

Not to mention the advantage of being much more flexible. If your neighbourhood sucks and you are stuck with like 25 years left on your mortgage, it might end up in a huge loss if you are forced to sell. People tend to buy bigger homes than they need, for various reasons, to show off, because the kids will need some space and so on.

If I need more/less space I cancel my contract and move to another place. Impossible if I bought a house.
 

CPisHere

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I'm buying my first house this year and I ran the numbers in detail. I'm currently spending $1200/mo on rent. If I buy a small condo or house in my area, I will be spending around $500/mo in mortgage interest, around $250/mo in property taxes, and around $75 on insurance. That's $825 monthly outflow. (Mortgage principal is simply an investment in real estate so its not calculated as an expense). But I will be getting around $300 in additional income from tax deductions on mortgage interest and property taxes, AND around $500/mo in home value appreciation assuming a conservative 2% rate of appreciation (most houses in my area are appreciating faster). Add those and I will be getting $800/mo in new net inflow. So essentially that's breaking even. My net worth will neither increase nor decrease (~$825 out/~$800 in) from having a mortgage on a small house, due to buying within my means (keeping mortgage interest low), getting the tax advantages from home ownership, and factoring in a conservative rate of home appreciation. This is a MUCH better deal than losing $1200/mo in net worth through renting.

Obviously I'm not factoring in maintenance here but that will be nowhere near $1200/mo so it's still a much better deal than renting. I'm also aware that the closing costs are a net worth hit but they will be paid for within 6 months by my calculations.

Many people forget that home ownership is tax incentivized (at least in the US) and proper tax planning is one of the critical components to creating wealth.
Ignoring principle payments is a huge error. You mention maintenance fees but don't include them in your calculation - even though they can & should be estimated, and unless there's some special tax deductions where you live that I don't have you appear to be exaggerating that number as well.

You also have not considered what ROI you could get with your down-payment if it isn't tied up in your house. Or the 6% fees you will have to pay to sell the house.
 

JDx

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He reminds me of James Altucher who shares the same view. I feel he has a valid point.
Though, he mainly goes on about being trapped. Now I don't have any experience in this but "settling" in a certain area doesn't sound very bad to me.
Then again, if you'd want to move, I can imagine you'd have more issues selling the property and buying something new / getting a new mortgage compared to when you rent.

I like how he said to take out the guys' cash he paid for the house and buy appartments and rent them out.

Thanks for posting.
(btw he's gone huge on advertisements in his show, wow, don't remember it being this bad on his other video I watched. Pretty annoying)
 
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ravenspear

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Ignoring principle payments is a huge error.
Why? A principal payment is a transfer of wealth from cash into home equity. It is not an outflow of wealth. So it should not be considered as such when considering inflow/outflow. In a rent payment, it is an outflow expense. If it were a situation where you were evaluating it as a real estate investment vs some other investment that would be one thing, but vs rent there is no comparison. In the case of mortgage principal you are keeping that money and it is adding to your net worth, vs simply going out the door as an expense with rent. The other place where it would be important to consider is if you were paying substantially more in principal than you were in rent, so the analysis would demand analyzing whether that is detrimental via taking up more of your income with a housing payment, but in my case my principal+interest payment will be roughly the same as the rent I'm currently paying.

You mention maintenance fees but don't include them in your calculation - even though they can & should be estimated
Ok, sure. The generally accepted reasoning is to consider at least 1-2% of the home cost per year for maintenance. If we use the middle, 1.5% as an example, that would be $350/mo in my case. So if we add that in, buying is still the better deal since it would be -375/mo for buying vs -1200/mo for renting.

and unless there's some special tax deductions where you live that I don't have you appear to be exaggerating that number as well.
I am not. I will be paying around $9000 a year in property taxes and mortgage interest. With my tax rate that will be around a $3000 federal tax savings and around $600 state, for a total of $3600/year or $300/mo.

You also have not considered what ROI you could get with your down-payment if it isn't tied up in your house. Or the 6% fees you will have to pay to sell the house.
This is a valid point. If you are going to buy the house and sell a year later, then it would not be worth it and you would lose money. I plan to stay where I am for likely a minimum of 5 years. Obviously no two situations are different, so everyone will have to calculate whether it makes sense for their situation. As to ROI, even at an aggressive 8% rate of return, my down payment would only yield around $185/mo in interest, which is less than the additional ~800/mo I'm making over renting, even when factoring in maintenance. If I had a fastlane business generating substantially more than this, then it might make more sense to invest there, but I don't at present.
 
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Envision

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buy a multi family - live in part - rent out the other units ????? live for free Profit?
 

RisingStars

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It's just like MJ wrote in TMF . The problem is that people see their houses as an asset, which is wrong. An asset PRODUCES money for you. A house just BURNS money.
The house itself isn't the problem if you are aware of this fact. A lot of people think of their house as an investment which is wrong, but not everyone wants 20 million and travel the world.

By no means someone is a "sucker" who knows that his house will only COST him money but still pursues it because it's the lifestyle he wants for his family and himself.
 
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OldFaithful

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If owning rental properties is such a good revenue stream for so many folks here....why would I want to become one of their customers???
 

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If owning rental properties is such a good revenue stream for so many folks here....why would I want to become one of their customers???

Replace "rental properties" with ANY other product or business and surprise yourself with the naivety of this sentence.
Like you wouldn't get a Netflix account because the owners have a good revenue stream.. Or you wouldn't buy a smartphone because (..) yada.
Wall-mart makes billions! I better stop shopping there
Seriously? Lol
 

SparksCW

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I still don't really understand this thinking, I see it a lot especially from the USA and Australia... I'm in the UK and I own a house, so I have a mortgage at about 65% loan to value.

I don't see it as an "asset" as it doesn't make me money, however in 20 years time (or less if I overpay) it'll be mortgage free, and therefore "free" so will reduce my living costs. You could consider that a future asset, especially for my children. I don't really use this in my lifestyle planning as I am working on businesses and other investments to form my income and pay for my future bills/life.

But more importantly, my mortgage is £450 however this property would rent for £1100 p.m so how exactly am I better off by renting? If i tried to rent the same property I'm in I'd be paying over 100% more. I also made £50,000 "profit" (on paper, meaningless) by renovating it and the running costs are low.

The theory is sound, I get it, use your money to make more money, your own house doesn't make you money so you might as well rent and spend your money on investments, but as per above, I'd spend more than twice as much to rent?! Makes no sense unless I'm missing something?

Not being argumentative, just trying to understand the logic, or wondering if it's completely different in the US.

Having renovated my house, it's been a drain on time, motivation and energy. So I agree with that aspect, the house still isn't completely finished due to concentrating more on work than the house. So that is a major point to buying and renovating, it can reduce time spent earning money. Next time I'll be aiming for a completed property for sure.
 

CaptainAmerica

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Everyone's situation is different. I followed the advice of Michael Bluejay, bought a house at 100% financing, guaranteed by both federal and state agencies, and rent out enough rooms that my mortgage is in the negative numbers. It's owned by a trust, and I have a lifetime tenancy. For me, the security mattered far more than growth. The chances of me ever being homeless again are small and controllable.
 

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I disagree. Buying a house you cannot afford is for suckers, I would agree with, and this is what most people do. Also, putting a huge percentage of your net worth into one house is also stupid, which is again what most people do.

But buying a cheap house is a better deal than renting, assuming the down payment is not all or a huge percentage of your net worth.

I'm buying my first house this year and I ran the numbers in detail. I'm currently spending $1200/mo on rent. If I buy a small condo or house in my area, I will be spending around $500/mo in mortgage interest, around $250/mo in property taxes, and around $75 on insurance. That's $825 monthly outflow. (Mortgage principal is simply an investment in real estate so its not calculated as an expense). But I will be getting around $300 in additional income from tax deductions on mortgage interest and property taxes, AND around $500/mo in home value appreciation assuming a conservative 2% rate of appreciation (most houses in my area are appreciating faster). Add those and I will be getting $800/mo in new net inflow. So essentially that's breaking even. My net worth will neither increase nor decrease (~$825 out/~$800 in) from having a mortgage on a small house, due to buying within my means (keeping mortgage interest low), getting the tax advantages from home ownership, and factoring in a conservative rate of home appreciation. This is a MUCH better deal than losing $1200/mo in net worth through renting.

Obviously I'm not factoring in maintenance here but that will be nowhere near $1200/mo so it's still a much better deal than renting. I'm also aware that the closing costs are a net worth hit but they will be paid for within 6 months by my calculations.

Many people forget that home ownership is tax incentivized (at least in the US) and proper tax planning is one of the critical components to creating wealth.

So you are saying that in your area a $1200/mo rent gets you a $300k house. I am basing this on your 2% appreciation equating to $6,000/yr. In this scenario, you should not be buying a $300k house.

You say that you will spend $500/mo in interest, again $6000/yr. At current interest rate of 3%, you are getting a $200k loan and putting $100k down.

I know you say that this is your first home, so you don't have experience as a homeowner yet. But there is a reason that older and more financial successful people are telling others not to buy a home.

I am telling you that renting a $300k house for $1200/mo is a steal. I would rent forever and never buy this house.

Now, if you tell me that a $1200/mo rent gets you a $150k home, then I may tell you to buy. This is because when your life changes you will have a cashflowing asset when you rent it out.

Do me a favor and run out some real numbers on real property in your area out 5 years and see how or if owning is better.
 
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ravenspear

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So you are saying that in your area a $1200/mo rent gets you a $300k house.
No, that is not what I said at all.

I said my current rent is $1200/mo. I currently rent one half of a duplex that is valued around $300k, so the total rent for the house is basically double that. Rents are much higher in my area than an equivalent principal+interest payment. My principal+interest payment on a 300k will actually be less than the same 1200/mo.

I am telling you that renting a $300k house for $1200/mo is a steal. I would rent forever and never buy this house.
That would be a steal if that was the fact of the situation, but it is not.

Now, if you tell me that a $1200/mo rent gets you a $150k home, then I may tell you to buy.
That is much closer to the reality. Rents on all of the houses in the ~$300k range that I am looking at would be over $2k/mo.

I know you say that this is your first home, so you don't have experience as a homeowner yet. But there is a reason that older and more financial successful people are telling others not to buy a home.
And what I'm saying is that people need to be careful about mixing messages. I agree that many people buy far more house than they can afford. That is a foolish decision. However, if after carefully examining the facts of the situation, you find that buying makes sense, and you do so within your means, then there is nothing wrong with that. Blanket statements like "never buy because it's always stupid" are equally foolish.
 
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ravenspear

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I still don't really understand this thinking, I see it a lot especially from the USA and Australia... I'm in the UK and I own a house, so I have a mortgage at about 65% loan to value.

I don't see it as an "asset" as it doesn't make me money, however in 20 years time (or less if I overpay) it'll be mortgage free, and therefore "free" so will reduce my living costs. You could consider that a future asset, especially for my children. I don't really use this in my lifestyle planning as I am working on businesses and other investments to form my income and pay for my future bills/life.

But more importantly, my mortgage is £450 however this property would rent for £1100 p.m so how exactly am I better off by renting? If i tried to rent the same property I'm in I'd be paying over 100% more. I also made £50,000 "profit" (on paper, meaningless) by renovating it and the running costs are low.

The theory is sound, I get it, use your money to make more money, your own house doesn't make you money so you might as well rent and spend your money on investments, but as per above, I'd spend more than twice as much to rent?! Makes no sense unless I'm missing something?

Not being argumentative, just trying to understand the logic, or wondering if it's completely different in the US.

Having renovated my house, it's been a drain on time, motivation and energy. So I agree with that aspect, the house still isn't completely finished due to concentrating more on work than the house. So that is a major point to buying and renovating, it can reduce time spent earning money. Next time I'll be aiming for a completed property for sure.

A home that you own is by definition an asset. A mortgage (if you have one) is the liability.

The problem that many people have owning a home does not come from viewing it as an asset (since it is one), the problem comes in viewing it as your primary investment vehicle and sinking most or all of your net worth into that one asset. That leaves you nondiversified and subject to substantial loss if the real estate market declines, and it ties up all your money in a mostly non-liquid asset that is hard to get out of if you need to. For those reasons, there are plenty of people that buy homes that should not be buying, and I completely agree with that point. I just disagree with the absolute presented here. Absolute statements are overly simplistic and rarely accurate in all cases.

Also, wrt to renovations, since those can in many cases raise the value of the asset, that is not always money just thrown away. Again it should not be comprising a significant portion of your net worth, but if you can make some renovations and thereby raise the value of your asset even more, that's often a good trade. That is the basis of much of real estate investing.
 
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Evil_Jester

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Cardone said that buying a property is not an investment unless it generates cash-flow every month. THAT was a huge gold nugget for me.
He also said that you would be tied down and couldn't move easily. My initial reason to not buy, and rent instead.
 
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To me, this argument lacks internal logic and seems to be conflating two completely separate ideas.

If there is no income don't invest in it.

Paying rent to a landlord generates no income and has zero ROI (or more likely, negative ROI). How is paying $1200 to a bank for a mortgage different from paying $1200 to a landlord for rent (besides the obvious increase in personal equity)? Either way I have a place to live that costs me $1200 a month.

Sell your house and buy rental property. I know this sounds crazy, but rent where you live and own what you can rent to others.

Ok, so let's say I sell my house and move into a rental. I then buy another house (or just keep the first house) and rent it out. Prior to that I have 1 mortgage, costing me $1200 a month. After that, I have 1 mortgage costing me $1200 a month, 1 lease costing me $1200 a month, and 1 tenant providing me $1200 a month in income. The end result is the same, the only difference is I have a lot more legal responsibility as a landlord plus the added risk of a potential non-paying / destructive tenant or gaps in lessees. If one tenant moves out, it could be a month or two to clean the unit and recruit a new one. That's two months of paying my $1200 rent on top of a $1200 mortgage.

But then again, I might be biased because I bought a great house at less than market value with a mortgage that is about 60% of my annual gross in one of the best school districts in my state.
 

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One of the reasons I preferred to buy the house I live in instead of renting it was to learn as much as I could about the process of buying a house and borrowing the mortgage.

I knew that one day I would start renting out houses. And seven years down the road I did.

People are looking for passive income, but renting out properties is easier said than done. There's a lot of stuff that comes at you that you'd never expect. It is not passive.

But buying your own house takes away part of the complexity of renting out properties, because it familiarizes you already with the buying process. The "passive income" becomes a little bit more passive.

Grant seems to forget this.
 
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I hope you will forgive me for this little dissertation, but I think the confusion here is two fold: the difference between assets & investments, as well as how to choose a supplier. Let's clarify.

Asset vs Investment

Asset (definition from Google)
1. a useful or valuable thing, person, or quality.
2. property owned by a person or company, regarded as having value and available to meet debts, commitments, or legacies.
3. military equipment, such as planes, ships, communications and radar installations, employed or targeted in military operations.

Investment (definition from Google)
1. the action or process of investing money for profit or material result.
2. the surrounding of a place by a hostile force in order to besiege or blockade it.

Many "get rich slow" gurus & politicians claim that owning your house can be an investment (because they want to sell you something) but thinking it through will reveal that it is instead an asset. Many believe that a house is an investment because it will cost less in the long term and/or return the principal (plus inflation) at a later date, but that does not meet the definition above. A residence you live in doesn't typically generate cash flow or profit. There are exceptions...as in a reverse mortgage or playing/timing the real estate market to buy a residence for cheap and when prices soar quickly, sell for a profit. However, to generalize the common practice of buying a house, might we be able to agree that it is an asset???

Choosing a Supplier

You're going to reside somewhere, aren't you? So then the next question becomes: which supplier do you wish to acquire your residence from? Typically a seller or a landlord.

In my opinion, the only way to determine that is to do the math, in full, with realistic estimates for everything...including intangibles! No different than any other large financial decision. As with any purchase there are a variety of suppliers to choose from, various methods to pay, and a variety of offerings. Compare the total cost of ownership against the value you gain from the transaction and select the supplier that provides you the best bang for your buck. Without that due diligence, you're making an emotional decision and not a logical one.

If the prices/taxes/etc in your area are weighted such that the math reveals a lower cost of ownership when buying, then you should buy. If the math reveals that renting provides a lower cost of ownership for the same received value, then you should rent.

You may find that some suppliers are charging a substantially higher price for your residence than others! But you will never know unless you put in the due diligence.
 

CPisHere

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A home that you own is by definition an asset. A mortgage (if you have one) is the liability.
Robert Kyosaki & Grant Cardone use a different definition, and would say it's not an asset unless it pays you.
 

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Here's a big key that Cardone mentions in the video - a house ties you down. Renting offers flexibility.

If you WANT to be tied down & you know you will stay in one house at least 5 years (preferably 10+), then buying is probably the best decision. That's what I did. I bought a beautiful home in a great school district (like JScott pointed out) that I could stay in until my kids are older.

The starter home that I sold to buy this house, which I stayed in 5 years & had to come out of pocket $2k to get out of... That was a bad decision. And I see a whole lot of 25 - 30 year olds making the same one.
 
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Your car, your refrigerator, your lawnmower and the device you're reading this on right now are also assets (but not investments). Should you necessarily rent all those things as well?

Assuming your answer is No, then it's safe to say that just because something is an asset and not an investment doesn't mean it shouldn't be purchased instead of rented.

Anything that ties up a large amount of cash and is not an investment should almost never be purchased. Your logic is flawed, a $100 lawnmower and a $500,000 house is an illogical argument.
 

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Ps. Donald Trump lives in Trump Towers, the investment pays for his asset(housing).
 

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We like owning (with the help of a mortgage).

It's our home.

Each year we do a bit more to it. New kitchen. New bathroom. Decking out the back. Redecorating regularly (that's my wife).

We'll get the smallish back garden landscaped when the boys are older and the slides and trampolines are gone.

Maybe we'll get an extension and an extra bedroom (office?).

Maybe one day we'll get a wee office built out back for yours truly? It would be nice to have video kit setup permanently. Until then, I'm quite happy for my office to double as the playroom. When they're home I shouldn't be working anyway.

The kids will be able to walk to school when they're a bit older. They're within 5 minutes walk of at least 10 cousins.

We're 5 minutes walk from the sports centre, swimming pool, playground, and skateboard park.

We're within 5 mins drive of the kids kick-boxing classes in the next village.



It wouldn't feel like home if we were renting.

Neither would we invest time and money into it if we didn't own.

I don't care if we could rent cheaper (we can't actually, but that's due to getting "lucky" when we bought at a good price 5 years ago).

Some things aren't decided by maths.

Just my 2c.
 
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458

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You made the statement that a house was an asset and not an investment, and implied that for that reason, it shouldn't be purchased. In other words, you implied that purchasing assets was a bad decision if they weren't investments. I merely pointed out that that reasoning was illogical because (even smart) people purchase assets all the time that aren't investment.

Now, you're making a different argument -- that only assets that tie up a large amount of cash shouldn't be purchased. That's a completely different argument than you were making before...

I certainly agree that the more expensive the item, the less it makes sense to own the item. But, the absolute value of an asset is meaningless -- using your example of $100 or $500,000 above, those numbers are only meaningful when considered as a percentage of net worth and income. For someone with a net worth of $20M and $1M a year in income, the difference between a $100 lawnmower and a $500,000 house is relatively meaningless (they are both relatively small amounts). Also, for someone with a net worth of $0 and no income, the difference between a $100 lawnmower and a $500,000 house is relatively meaningless (they are both exceedingly large amounts).

People tend to make absolute statements about money relative to their circumstances, and don't realize that there is nothing absolute about it. Based on your statement above, you clearly believe that $100 is a LITTLE bit of money and $500,000 is a LOT of money. But, for many people both of those are a LITTLE bit of money and for many people, both of those are a LOT of money. Likewise with any other assets you might consider.

Personally, I own and live in a house that you would probably say was a bad purchase (based on the price). But, given the cost relative to my financial situation (and my goals for buying the house), I'd very much disagree with you. It doesn't mean either of us is wrong; it simply means our perceptions, circumstances and utility functions about money are different.

Your over thinking the whole thing. The point of investment is to compound as much cash as quickly as possible. Buying a house slows down that process. Buffet is an extreme example of this. Btw, the fact that you own a home that you admit was purchased at a bad price shows me your bias in the argument to convince yourself it was a good choice.
 

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We like owning (with the help of a mortgage).

It's our home.

Each year we do a bit more to it. New kitchen. New bathroom. Decking out the back. Redecorating regularly (that's my wife).

We'll get the smallish back garden landscaped when the boys are older and the slides and trampolines are gone.

Maybe we'll get an extension and an extra bedroom (office?).

Maybe one day we'll get a wee office built out back for yours truly? It would be nice to have video kit setup permanently...

The kids will be able to walk to school when they're a bit older. They're within 5 minutes walk of at least 10 cousins.

We're 5 minutes walk from the sports centre, swimming pool, playground, and skateboard park. We're within 5 mins drive of the kids kick-boxing classes in the next village.

It wouldn't feel like home if we were renting.

Neither would we invest time and money into it if we didn't own.

I don't care if we could rent cheaper (we can't actually, but that's due to use getting "lucky" when we bought at a good price 5 years ago).

Some things aren't decided by maths.

Just my 2c.

Being a homeowner and a landlord, I could not agree more.

I recently was in a situation where renting would have made more rational sense when you ran the numbers.

However, we opted to purchase anyway.

When you rent, you have no control over that property.

We like control. We like to remodel and decorate and paint things the colors we feel are best for the space.

A lot of people don't factor in the time it takes to constantly be moving year to year (or the expense).

Our recent move consumed about all of my free time for a week and a half. That took time away from leisure and working on my business.

Most people don't realize that a landlord can sell the property while you still live there (check your lease).

We don't like unanticipated changes. And being a landlord myself, I know what renting is like.

Lastly, we do not like to comprise on our place of residence.

We have worked very hard to get to where we are and the way we live is a direct reflection of what we have achieved.

We DON'T over do it.

BUT,

Stuffing our mattress and the Millionaire Next Door lifestyle is not our thing.

A lot of people don't figure in how much time is wasted driving to the gym, work, grocery store, and going to entertainment when they live in class B, C, and D neighborhoods that are further removed from everything.

Most people also don't factor in the difference in appreciation between a class A vs B, C, or D neighborhoods.

Yes a class C neighborhood is cheaper. But how much time are you wasting and how much appreciation are you missing out on?

Of course this is all framed in the context of affordability.

So what I am getting at (regardless of income), if you can afford to live in a B class neighborhood don't opt to live in a C or D.

But if all you can afford is a D... well you can only go up from there :)

If your personal preference is to live like a hermit, then feel free to do so.

I'm not here to dictate personal preference.

I'm only offering my perspective and opinion being a homeowner and a landlord.

Whether it is good or bad, right or wrong.

Makes no difference to me.

Good luck.
 

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