It's not a slam dunk if you just look at the numbers. With appreciation, my home, taking into account maintenance, renovations, significant raises in HoA fees a

It's not a slam dunk if you just look at the numbers. With appreciation, my home, taking into account maintenance, renovations, significant raises in HoA fees and insurance, etc, and correlating that with how much it appreciated in value, probably comes a little shy of a triple-fund portfolio investment. The catch is, I get to live in it. I made it awesome. I put a ton of money on the kitchen, the bathroom, etc to make it something I'll never be able to rent (without paying 9-10k/month anyway, and I can't afford that). I was able to do all that while still coming up only SLIGHTLY below renting + investing the extra. There's a certain emotional value to buying a house that the math can't capture. Even JUST with the financial math, it's pretty close (and sometimes an amazing investment, in the right market). But once you tack on the emotional value, it shits all over the alternative (for people who want a home to call their own). I can't think of any other purchase where you can get something you really want, AND have that thing be a mediocre or better investment at the same time. I can't live inside of my S&P500 position.