The House Doesn’t Always Win When It Comes to Investing, because real estate doesn’t typically appreciate much. Instead it pays off a dividend — you get to live there:
Folks think the real-estate game is all about price appreciation. But in reality, long-run gains have been fairly modest, with home prices outpacing inflation by just 1.2 percentage points a year since 1975.Instead, the big benefit of home ownership comes from the dividend, which is the ability to collect rent or to live rent-free
Remodeling doesn’t typically pay for itself in dollars and cents, but in “imputed rent”:
Typically, homeowners get back 70 or 80 cents for every $1 they spend. The other 20 or 30 cents? That’s gone.