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I realise a stock market index fund will perform better than real estate over the long term, but not all real estate is the same.

Surely, buying a property in a vibrant city that is growing and is a nice place to live will likely mean your property value will greatly outpace inflation in the long term?

We bought a house over 10 years ago for $361k spending $50k of our own money.

We sold it last year for $900k.

I don't think it was a terrible investment...

Could we have got similar returns by investing $50k in the stock market instead? Remember, the cost to pay off the mortgage is mostly offset by the fact you would otherwise have to pay rent.




The stock market wouldn't have kept you warm and dry for 10 years as well!


That's a very good profit even when accounting for interest (~$144k), taxes (~$29k) and maintenance (not sure, maybe $10k a year?). Definitely better than 2.5x your $50k with an index fund tied to S&P 500.


Even better, I live in New Zealand - we have no capital gains tax here!




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