DConf 2013 Day 3 Talk 1: Metaprogramming in the Real World by Don Clugston

[Steven Schveighoffer]

On Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:20:30 -0400, Walter Bright  
<newshound2 at digitalmars.com> wrote:
> Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
>  > But you can continue to live in an underwater-mortgage house if you  
> can pay for it.
>
> Yes, but we are talking about the financial difference between owning vs  
> renting.

Right, but my point is, if you don't sell, there is no financial  
windfall/loss.  If you can afford to "ride out" the low period, you most  
likely will break even or make money when you do sell.  Home prices pretty  
much are consistent, and go in cycles.  Almost no houses go down to 0, and  
traditionally, the value goes up with inflation.  It's normally a pretty  
safe place to store your net worth.

>  > it was an educated choice.
>
> I'm not saying you're wrong, but the proof of that is if you can repeat  
> the success consistently.

The funny thing is, I'm not in home ownership to make money.  I've lost  
about half of what I made on the previous sale, if I sold today.  But I  
don't care.  I just want a house to live in :)

The thing I see as a large barrier to home ownership is the down payment.   
If you can get into home ownership, at a good time when prices are low,  
then you are set pretty much forever.  But you have to have that large  
initial investment.

Home ownership is much simpler than playing with stocks, but you have to  
have the right goal.

-Steve