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Comment by ajays | Hacker News Reader

.... and he ends with this sentence:

     By the way, this is going to sound like a 
     contradiction: but I think housing is a great 
     investment right now.

Go figure.

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Housing is an investment, a home is not.

Of course it is, just not the monetary kind.

Yeah, go buy a REIT or a housing-related stock. Then you haev all the investment benefits of owning a house EXCEPT - you don't have to pay extra taxes - no maintenance - you can sell any second you want. So go figure.

Anyone who takes advice from or goes into business with someone who could write "EXCEPT - you don't have to pay extra taxes - no maintenance - you can sell any second you want" is an idiot and deserves anything bad that happens as a result.

Could you explain? I think the intention is that you earn from the housing market's growth while keeping your investment liquid?

The problem is in the first two - taxes and maintenance. You are still paying your share of them. You are likely paying more, proportionately, than you would if you owned the property directly, because you are also paying someone else to handle them for you.

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