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No one should buy a home they intend to make their primary residence purely for investment reasons. But if you are settling down with kids, and don’t intend to
by tempsy 6y ago
No one should buy a home they intend to make their primary residence purely for investment reasons. But if you are settling down with kids, and don’t intend to move for 5 or more years, then having a stable home with a mortgage payment you can afford is a completely rational decision. There are significant tax benefits to owning a home, and after 5 years you don’t have to pay capital gains taxes on your first $200K (?) in gains from a sale, which is pretty huge.
If your primary goal is just to realize some ROI there’s plenty of other asset classes that are much more liquid than residential real estate.
- busterarm 6y agoI was surprised to see the author completely skip over the tax implications of buying a house and most of the comments here as well. This is right on the money. The tax advantages of property investment are _significant_.
- albertgoeswoof 6y agoDepends where you live. In the UK there are no tax breaks for a property. You pay a duty when you buy a house, and a low yearly tax based on an estimated value/band, but generally no tax on gains either.
- mxschumacher 6y agoIf you are addressing a global audience, it is difficult to make statements about taxation that generalize well. I'd say even within one jurisdiction, individuals have vastly different profiles and optimal tax strategies. Conversely, interest rates are low in all wealthy nations and anybody can buy the S&P500
- busterarm 6y agoEdit: I stand corrected.
- mxschumacher 6y agoNo, the author does not live in the US.