• ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml
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    6 months ago

    Because the value of housing goes up over time. Practically guaranteed, historically speaking. An asset is just a thing that has value. An investment is an asset that (you hope) will accrue value in the future. Land can be an investment, too. So can digital pictures of monkeys. Really, any asset can be an investment.

    • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      6 months ago

      yeah but that’s like, entirely counter to the core concept of how this shit works.

      And old house is not more valuable than a new house, unless new houses are getting shittier and shittier over time, which last i checked, they aren’t.

      I would classify an investment as the explicit example of putting money into something, that you expect to do well, in such a manner that you can realize returns on that investment, normally this does not entail using something. Buying a house, and then living in it for example, is not an investment. Much like buying a car, driving it, and the selling it, generally does not make you money. It can if you hit the market in certain places at certain times, but this is more speculative investing than anything.

      And again, shouldn’t apply to houses on account that there should be like 100 million houses in the US at the very least, any time where speculative investment becomes a thing, it’s because there is low supply, and high demand. This literally should not be possible for housing. And if it is, it’s about as moral as trading people for money.