I used to think this way and realized there were two key things I missed (these are game changers). 1) There are places where the appreciation on the primary r

I used to think this way and realized there were two key things I missed (these are game changers). 1) There are places where the appreciation on the primary residence is not-taxed or taxed at a low rate. I.e. In HCOL areas, people who just bought a house and did nothing much in life (say, drove an Uber just to make ends meet), are worth 1-2 million dollars after tax. 2) When you buy real-estate through a mortgage, you are getting massive leverage on your investment. Would I borrow 5x my principal to buy shares? No! Why is that? If prices go down on shares and I bought on margin, I can get a margin call. If I have a 25-30 year mortgage, I can ride the ups and downs. These are all my personal experiences .. I followed blogs like greaterfool and totally missed out on some key aspects in life. Owning a home was a much more pleasant life experience than renting for me personally. It is certainly more risky (with respect to restricting job mobility), and more expensive in some respects (utilities). I just want to provide a counterpoint to your argument. Not a financial advisor so pls don't take stock in anything I say :)