I hear the phrase often that your home is your single biggest investment. I have never lived in a hot real estate market on either coast. I have never experienced 20% annual increases in home prices. I am sure that clouds my thinking, but I do not see home ownership as an investment. In my mind it is a housing expense (which is a neccessary expense for most of us) with a forced savings component.

Opinions?

My house has increased in value, a lot, since I bought it in 2010, but that matters only to my heirs. I bought it to live in.

Although for most it is not purchased purely for investment purposes as you state, the home is typically an asset that appreciates and contributes to building wealth long term. The home is also, for most, the largest single purchase they will make so in that sense it it likely the biggest "investment" most people will ever make.

Absolutely not. While it is nice to see a home increase in value it is nothing compared to growth of stocks over time. Also with the new tax plan, the tax advantages of owning a home no longer exist for most of us. Those of us saddled with extremely high property taxes also tax another big hit on home ownership return costs. IMO one of the biggest mistakes many take is buying a home they can barely afford and thus neglecting other investments such as stocks to pay PI and taxes on their home.

Mine was the worst investment I've ever made in my life.

Nope. I built it to live in as long as I can. We designed it the way we wanted with little regard for resale. I'm sure if you look at the original purchase price, upgrades over the years, appliance replacements, etc and adjusted for inflation, there is no way it appreciated.

I don't care.

You haven't owned your house long enough or paid off the home to see where some of the intrinsic value comes. New tax laws change the perspective of first time buyers. Having no home loan vs. eternal rent payments is investment enough for some.

Nope. We bought in December of 2007, relight before the crash. Unless icicles happen, I don’t think we’ll ever break even.

Both.

I have to have somewhere to live. I got tired of paying other people's mortgages, and decided to pay my own.

Since the Army requires me to move on a frequent basis, I must ALWAYS be thinking about the financial investment aspect of my property. Every decision I make has to include the criteria, "How will this affect my property value? Increase? Neutral? Decrease? How will it affect how quickly my home sells or rents out? Improve, degrade?"

And finally, "Am I likely to get a fraction of this expense back upon sale, or am I just spending the money?"

Even if your circumstances aren't as jumpy as mine - why would you NOT consider the worth of your property, and how modifications can change that? I don't support this home flippers craze of "Oh my God, we've got to make it pop!" and homeowners spending thousands of dollars constantly renovating their home for whatever the market wants, as opposed to what meets their needs and desires. HOWEVER, why WOULDN'T you at least pay attention to the home's appraised and projected value, and at least explore factors that increase or decrease that value?

Things change - jobs, priorities, family circumstances. I guess I think someone who remains ignorant of those factors might be in for a very unwelcome surprise if, say, they'd need to move cities or states for employment or due to family circumstances. When it comes to houses, that could be a very significant financial penalty.

right now I bought it to live in

I hope to live long enough to see it paid off

then it will be an investment

I consider the house we live in now somewhat of an investment because although it's way too big for the wife and I, it is steadily climbing in value and is pretty secure in that. That's one of the reasons we have not downsized as of yet, but we have talked about doing that later this year after my surgery in Sept. But, you've got to live somewhere.

As with most investments your profit is made when you buy, not when you sell.

If you buy for a good price, you make money. If you buy for a bad price, you loose money. Sometimes what is good today is no good tomorrow.

I bought my current home at the end of the housing crash for half of what the guy before me had into building it. Good price. If I sold today I would make money. Good investment.

I've been stupid lucky most of my life. Things just fall into place. "My" home was bought by my wife from her father for a song before we were married. Mortgage long since paid off.

Going strictly by the numbers, the house she paid $10,500 for in 1970-ish, plus improvements/repairs made over the years is now worth around $225,000 on paper.

Don't mean a damn to us, might work out okay for the kids after we assume room temperature.

Nope. Paid off the house I live in a while ago. My next house will be the Funeral Home.

Damn! I'm gonna look so natural!

In my case yes, it is.

I could probably sell today for $375K.

I current owe a few hundred dollars more than $70K.

But I'm living here, and have no desire to sell.

I by choice have never lived where real estate is volitile. Therefore I don’t plan on much gain. My house has appreciated about 10% in 15 years. Not what I’d call a good return. It was cheap when I bought it and it still is.

I invest the difference in my 401k it’s performed much better.

I bought my apartment back in the late 90's. It seemed like a no brainer given how expensive rents were (and now much, Much worse.) And back then apartments had not reached ridiculousness yet, coming off the early 90's crash. I paid <$200K.

I never planned on being in here this long. Now, the most recent comps we've had in the building would put my value between $825-850K. When I finally get around to making my escape from NYC, I'll be able to buy something pretty much anywhere in the country (excluding a few overpriced booming cities) and have a fair chunk of change leftover. So, yeah, I consider it a good investment.

Unless you're in a situation where you're not going to be staying in a location very long, rent is usually throwing money away.

I don't think my current house is the house in which I'll retire. I'm planning on looking at another house sometime in late 2019/early 2020. I will sell this house for more than I bought it, so yes...I guess for me it's an investment so I can move on to something better "down the road".

According to the book "Rich Dad Poor Dad" no ones hone is an investment. The writer brings up some very interestingly info.

After paying a mortgage, I’m riding free except for maintenance now and have this forced savings behind me.