It appreciates, but you still need a place to live, so you can't ever actually access that value by selling or renting it out. The best you can do is borrow aga

It appreciates, but you still need a place to live, so you can't ever actually access that value by selling or renting it out. The best you can do is borrow against it, which is a nice option, but doesn't actually give you anything; you have to pay it back. A much wiser thing to do is buy a duplex or triplex, the "nicest" one you can afford, defining "nicest" in terms of total rent after expenses other than principal. Then as the value goes up you can access it through rents going up. You may even be able to sell half off as a condo someday in some cases, while still keeping a place to live. If buying a place that you can rent part of out in the future is not realistic, I would just buy the most affordable home you can tolerate and enjoy. The extra value won't ever be able to help you unless you decide to become homeless, die, or move to a different much cheaper area. > Tl;Dr: conventional wisdom is to buy the nicest house you can afford, thinking that housing appreciates