Quote:
Originally Posted by CoachKandSportsguy
Just remember that your house is NOT an investment. there is no revenue generated by it and there are only expenses associated with it. a car is also not an investment, just future junk. And in the villages, houses can come close to future junk with no wills/trusts, etc
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It depends. Cars: When I was in high school and college I bought and sold maybe 20 cars. I always made a profit. I started with a 1939 Chevy business coupe I bought in 1957 for $35. When I graduated college in 1964 I owned a 1956 Jaguar XK140 roadster and a 1957 Cadillac Fleetwood. I sold the Jag at a huge profit and drove the Cadillac all over the country for a while. Wish I had never sold that Jag...
Houses: I bought my first house for about $28,000 in Alexandria, VA in 1967, sold it six months later netting $33,000. I put as little as possible down and was leveraged to the hilt but houses were appreciating at that time. I have never taken a hit on a house and I have moved a lot so have owned many. My last Newport Beach house cost me $650K in 1994 and is now worth $3.5M. I lived in it until I moved here a few years ago. Rather than sell it and get killed by $1.2 M in income taxes (CA taxes LTCGs as regular income, top rate 13.3%) I rent it out at $7,500/mo.
As far as houses costing a person to own, we all have to live somewhere! Rent is usually paid out of after tax dollars and renting a nice home can be expensive if you can find one in a good area. Plus the landlord can raise the rent, sell the house or even kick you out and move back in. I would rather own.