Dunno, man, I bought my house for $99k 12 years ago, it’s almost paid, and it’s worth $400k now.
I bought my first house in 1982 for $38,500.
When I sold it in 1990 I was lucky to get $29,000 for it. The housing market dropped significantly due to large manufacturing plants closing.
That said, every other home I’ve purchased has increased in value since then. And I did live in the house so the loss was similar to what rent would have been.
Yep. While there may be periods of housing crashes, they don’t last long, they usually recover and end up being higher. Does anyone think that homes will go down to what they were in the 2000’s? 90’s? 80’s? 70’s?
There’s no way. So long as you’re not losing your job during a downturn, along with not having negative equity, you’re fine. It can hit those where downturns result in negative equity and they lose a job.
It’s a longer-term bet imho. You have to live somewhere. I felt I was too stock heavy. I wanted an alternative. I figured investing in a nicer home was a move in real estate, invest in improving the home too (big Trex deck, custom walk-in closets, in-ground pool, landscaping, ...). It may not be the ‘best’ move in terms of highest growth, but you have some diversification from the stock market while *enjoying* your house every day. Having locked in a mortgage at 2.8% - almost half my payment was principal on day one. It’s much like putting money from one pocket into the other. It will be worth more than I bought it for (already is, much more).
I plan to retire in a smaller home, selling this one will allow me to have the retirement home fully paid. There is no perfect formula, and I’d argue a perfect ‘math formula’ for retirement does not equal enjoying life while you’re living. You must balance both.