tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post3705384584944253053..comments2024-03-18T17:17:00.423+13:00Comments on Not PC: GUEST POST: Houses are homes, not investmentsPeter Cresswellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699845031503699181noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-69789098133892124662012-03-05T22:46:58.142+13:002012-03-05T22:46:58.142+13:00I was thinking about Apple today - saw a young guy...I was thinking about Apple today - saw a young guy on Twitter telling everybody to buy Apple stock, they have huge upside, etc. My problem with Apple is that their market is luxury consumer goods: when the sovereign debt crisis finally hits for real their market is going to vanish so fast your eyes will bleed.<br /><br />I agree, though (and have for some years) that you can't reasonably view a house as an investment. My family thought I was mad; half of them probably still do. Even considering cashflow cashflow it's still a huge loss IMHO. You've paid interest that was probably twice what the house is worth - that's enormous potential capital vanished, essentially for nothing. Maybe your tenants paid that for you; it's still money that's essentially lost to you that can't be put to some more productive use.<br /><br />Then again, I'm not exactly a genius. If I were I'd be rich :)<br /><br />Cheers<br /><br />RichardHeisenbughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09853011593271456367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-54636064298273511292012-03-04T17:50:28.126+13:002012-03-04T17:50:28.126+13:00I think it is about time that we should learn from...I think it is about time that we should learn from eastern economies where there is no free flowing credit and everybody buys a home with cash.<br />Even look at Canada , nothing happened to housing market because there were stringent lending rules by the banks, not like US NINJA loans( No Income no Job ) . The Americans have to rectify there spending habits.TomSachdevahttp://www.the-toronto-realestate.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-9599300902008935772012-03-03T19:33:41.155+13:002012-03-03T19:33:41.155+13:00The biggest reason for house price increases lies ...The biggest reason for house price increases lies at Govt's door. Their constant inflation of the currency means the dollar numbers go up every eyar, adn becasue houses are so long-term people see a big difference in buy and sell figues.<br /><br />Meanwhile they bring in bookloads of new laws about how to build a house, all of which force prices up. Couple that with their restriction of land use creating artificial shortages, and demand over-runs supply.<br /><br />If they were forced back out of their fiat money Ponzi scheme and were not allowed to interfere with what people did on their own land, I expect we would see the common price decreases we see for all other manufactured articles.<br /><br />Too bad if you bought a shipload of Commodore computer shares instead of Apple...KPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-83877701878209055352012-03-03T18:54:14.552+13:002012-03-03T18:54:14.552+13:00Ha, that is highly input of you. Whatever you wrot...Ha, that is highly input of you. Whatever you wrote here about the issue of houses are homes not investments seems to me pretty worthy to read for. Thanks mate.Mike Danielhttp://www.felixinvestments.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-56154500336039409622012-03-03T12:47:54.699+13:002012-03-03T12:47:54.699+13:00Vedrun Vuk is ignoring the cash flow and concentra...Vedrun Vuk is ignoring the cash flow and concentrating only on capital gain. If I bought a house for $200,000 I could do so with a down payment and a mortgage for the balance, over 20 years or so the house would be paid off leaving the rental income less costs. If I managed to acquire three properties and the capital value of them increased not one iota, by retirement time I would have a tidy income without having to sell anything.<br />On the other hand I would not have been able to buy $200,000 worth of Apple shares in 2005, for a start they pay no dividend to service the debt and secondly it would have been a considerable gamble; if everyone thought that Apple was going to be so successful the 2005 price would have been considerably higher.<br />The housing investment is a simple way for an average person to gain a reasonable asset with low risk and doesn’t require a capital gain, the cash flow is the important part.maxxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07143698010687455948noreply@blogger.com