Buying a Home is A Great Idea Right?
Everyone seems to say this all the time
The common mantra is simple: buy a house.
Lately, that mantra has been amplified relentlessly by real estate agents and coaches across Facebook and Instagram.
Short videos.
Clean graphics.
Emotionally compelling sound bites about building wealth, beating inflation, and “getting in before it’s too late.”
It all sounds confident. It all sounds urgent.
And much of it is economically sloppy.
Let me be clear upfront: this is not an argument against homeownership. I represent real estate. I benefit when people buy homes. I believe deeply in property as a lifestyle choice.
This is an argument against lazy thinking.
The Real Problem: Emotion Masquerading as Economics
One of the louder voices in this space today is not a practicing broker at all—or at least not one who built a meaningful career selling real estate. He makes his living teaching agents how to sell the idea of real estate.
Given that roughly 85% of agents exit the business within a few years, I suppose there’s a market for coaching the remaining 15%. Or at least for selling the hope of becoming them.
That’s fine. But hope is not economics.
Most of what’s being pushed today isn’t analytically sound.
It’s emotionally persuasive.
Those two things are not the same.
The Missing Frame: Relative Value
A rational buyer does not ask:
“Should I buy a house?”
They ask:
“Relative to what?”
Relative to:
Stocks
Bonds
Gold
Liquidity
Doing nothing
Renting
The life they actually want to live
Every decision sits inside a choice matrix. Remove that matrix, and you’re no longer advising—you’re persuading.
That frame is almost always missing from social media real estate advice.
Investment vs. Experience (These Are Not the Same)
If you are buying real estate as an investment, that is a legitimate conversation—but a very specific one.
It involves:
Basis
Holding period
Leverage risk
Tax structure
Exit costs
Opportunity cost
Buying at retail and assuming appreciation alone makes it “a great investment” is not disciplined thinking.
Real estate can perform well—but most appreciation people point to over the last decade has been driven by currency devaluation, not extraordinary real returns. That matters.
Absent a pandemic and the rapid erosion of the dollar’s purchasing power, residential real estate generally tracks inflation. It preserves lifestyle more than it compounds wealth.
That’s not a flaw. It’s a category distinction.
Perspective Matters (And Mine Is Lived)
I’m not a pessimist. I’m a realist.
I represent luxury and discretionary lifestyle homes in Florida and Costa Rica. The average value of the homes we work with exceeds $2.6 million. We currently represent properties north of $14 million and have one underway that will approach $20 million.
My wife and I live the same choices our clients make.
We own multiple homes—not because they are optimal investments, but because we value the experiences they provide. We could have allocated capital elsewhere and generated higher returns. We chose otherwise.
That was intentional.
Real estate, particularly at the luxury level, is not primarily about maximizing return. It’s about how you live.
What Real Estate Actually Is
Real estate is an indulgence. Less and less is it actually attainable by many and more and more it is not desired by a growing constituency.
For primary residences, it’s a lifestyle decision.
For luxury homes, it’s an experience choice
For second homes, it’s about memory, rhythm, and choice.
For some, like me for a time, it was a diversion needed.
Building is an option.
.
The Uncomfortable Truth
Here it is, plainly:
Real estate is not an investment in the way most people mean the word.
Yes:
There are tax advantages.
Rental income can offset costs.
Leverage can amplify outcomes.
But over long measuring sticks, there are simpler, more liquid, and less expensive-to-transact assets that often outperform residential real estate.
Stocks frequently do.
Gold often does.
Other financial assets absolutely do.
As a simple example: capital allocated to gold over the past year produced returns real estate did not. We understood that at the time—and we still chose lifestyle.
Because past a certain level, quality of life matters more than scoreboard net worth.
There is only so much difference your life experiences when your net worth moves from “very substantial” to “more substantial.” Roughly 800,000 people globally have an accessible net worth north of $30 million. That context matters.
Inflation, Holding Periods, and Reality
In most markets, residential real estate protects purchasing power. It does not reliably compound it.
Buy a $500,000 home today. Finance it. Hold it for the average period of roughly 11 years. After inflation, transaction costs, maintenance, taxes, and opportunity cost, the real return is usually modest.
And that’s fine.
If you want:
Stability
Proximity to schools
A place to raise children
Control over your living environment
Buy a home.
If you want flexibility—rent.
The mistake isn’t the choice.
The mistake is pretending the choice is something it isn’t.
What Real Estate Actually Is
For primary residences, real estate is a lifestyle decision.
For luxury homes, it’s an experience purchase.
For second homes, it’s about memory, rhythm, and choice.
Financial performance—if it exists—is secondary.
Think of it like a golf club membership with an equity component:
You pay dues.
You pay maintenance.
You enjoy the experience.
When you leave, you might get more than you put in.
That’s not a flaw. That’s the trade.
The Point
Buying a home can be a wonderful decision.
But it should be made with clear eyes, not emotional slogans.
Real estate is not wealth magic.
It’s not a guaranteed investment strategy.
It’s a trade: capital for experience, with a possible equity kicker.
When you understand that, you make better decisions.
And you stop being manipulated by messaging designed to make you feel smart instead of actually be rational.
C.B. - “You cannot take your babies to build sandcastles on the beach on a pile of bitcoin”
But you also shouldn’t pretend the sandcastle is a hedge fund.
Both truths can exist at the same time.