>Interest payments are not adding to your wealth, they're subtracting from it. Almost none of your house payment in the early years of the mortgage goes towards

>Interest payments are not adding to your wealth, they're subtracting from it. Almost none of your house payment in the early years of the mortgage goes towards increasing equity. Ya that's fair based on the payment schedule, banks gotta get their money if you pay it off early; but still more equity than renting. >Unless you bought an adjustable rate mortgage. Ya a lot of people got burned by balloon payments in 2008 after the market tanked. They were speculating more so than buying a house to live in many times I suspect. I bought a house in 2002 and it never went below what I paid for it by 2008. I bought at a really good time for my city though. >Nearly all people imagine that if they paid $X for a house, then sold it for $(X +Y) that they made $Y profit. I don't think anything ever works that way. Always giving someone a cut. >They leave out all other costs, like taxes, real estate commissions, insurance, etc., etc., etc. Ya all that sucks. But if you are renting, you still pay that for somebody else, it's baked in plus profit. If renting wasn't profitable, they wouldn't do it.