Blogger contends real estate is ‘The Great Lie’

(Source: The Buttonwood Tree)

Is real estate “The Great Lie?”

Writing as author of “Diary of a Financier,” a blogger on The Buttonwood Tree provocatively argues that costs beyond mortgage payments suggest that real estate and housing are “not terrific investments.”  Says the post:

Most suggestions otherwise are a huge lie, perhaps The Great Lie.  The Lie is perpetrated most in the commercialization of the “American Dream”: a white, picket fence for every man, woman, and family.  Non-income-producing, residential real estate is broadly a money pit.  For long-term holding periods (5-20 years), the value of this real estate is severely eroded by its cost of carry, including  Taxes + Insurance + Maintenance.

Although I have often expressed my own concerns about The American Dream, I have to wonder about