I wish I could buy a house just to live in. A rental property would be a dream. However, buying a house still requires an initial investment and good credit, wh

I wish I could buy a house just to live in. A rental property would be a dream. However, buying a house still requires an initial investment and good credit, which is tough to get when you make $10/hr. Then you have to be able to afford maintenance, disaster insurance, and an emergency fund if something happens to your job. You've got to get a house in an area with enough housing demand that you can rent it out, which is getting harder due to the fact that most new jobs are only being created in a handful of cities like SF, Houston, and NYC. This creates a lot of demand in those areas, which makes buying a house there out of reach for most normal people. And even if you manage to get a good house in a moderately okay area, the value of a house depreciates on a long enough timeframe. All this means that real estate investment is only truly available to those with preexisting capital.