re: The math for buying a home no longer works, per WSJ

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Buying a house to live in and calling it an investment has never been a good idea. At any time in history if you broke even after taxes, insurance, interest and maintenance you were fortunate. If you did the maintenance yourself you may have saved some money but you had an opportunity cost that is impossible to calculate. If you did make more than it cost to own and you did not down size or buy again in an area where prices had not increased all you did was swap one "asset" for another of equal value. This does not include the fact that owning a pile of bricks can be an anchor that keeps you from growing your career and taking advantage of opportunities. Owning a home is an expense. If you are fortunate it may not cost you much more than renting to own it. The piece of mind from owning is very valuable to some but that is often replaced by regret over the costs of owning

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