The people who are the most vocal against real estate are the ones who have the most desire for real estate.
They are the activists who push government to enact laws that tax foreign buyers, tax absentee property owners, and build more housing because their rent is too damn high.
They are the bloggers who cherry pick a bad home sale to prove prices are weakening in an obviously booming city.
They are your friends and acquaintances who call you a trust fund baby, don’t believe you scrimped and saved all those years, or try to make you feel bad about your purchase.
It takes a lot of discipline and sacrifice to save $300,000 for a down payment on a median priced home in New York City. Therefore, most people don’t and get pissed at those who do. The human condition assigns luck to the achievements of others and skill to our own.
I was thinking about 529 plans for my future kid, but then decided it’s probably better to buy a house and allocate its future cashflow for school. Sounds like a more sustainable investment. 529 money - you take out and it’s gone. If i can buy something like what Elt1@ was suggesting for 500K with 60K/yr cashflow, that’s very superior to 529, with the same down payment i would do for that house.
It also has a functional use. We shouldn’t confuse desirability with ROI though.
That was my point back on Redfin. I’ve never met a RE bear that didn’t start out as someone who wanted to buy. They became a RE bear once they realized they couldn’t afford what they want. There’s a lot of psychology there. It’s a tough realization that you aren’t that special, and there’s others with more money and success that can afford the home that you think you deserve.
Bears on the old Redfin forum were just of bunch of bitter kooks.
Just like stocks, winners are optimistic people. Never short America in the long run you will loose. Pessimism just makes you bitter and miserable.
