> acquire enough cash to simply buy outright I did that a long time ago (not in the US) and owned the place until a few years ago, when I radically misjudged t

> acquire enough cash to simply buy outright I did that a long time ago (not in the US) and owned the place until a few years ago, when I radically misjudged the market and ended up selling it at the bottom. Oops. Now I own a nicer and much more valuable place, with a mortgage; I may be able to keep it and pay it off, or I may have to sell if I ever want to move. For me personally, the lesson was that I want to own outright, or if I can't do that then rent, and I think I can do that for the rest of my life subject to some obvious limitations. Mostly because of the mobility trap presented by a mortgage.