I don't look at my house as an investment as much as it is an inflation hedge. We bought our current house in 2010 when prices were low due to the great recession. Our mortgage is $835/mo (15yr mortgage). If we were renting now our rent would be ~$1500/mo for a comparable house in the same area. And our mortgage will be paid off in about 3.5 years as we've paid some extra on the principal over the years. Yes, there's still property tax and repairs but those are built into rental prices anyway. I also don't have to worry about having to move if the landlord sells the place I'm renting. I like the area and don't plan to move for a different job anyway.
Sounds like that panned out, but it's pretty circumstantial. Not all of us have the opportunity to buy a house at the bottom of the largest real-estate recession in generations.
i got extremely lucky buying my first house right in the middle of that recession. paid 101k , got it appraised last year at 190k and the area has gone up since. my second house where i'm at now was right when the prices started going up so a bit more but less wife. i owe alot to that recession.
