Why buying a home is usually a terrible investment (vs buying bitcoin).

[CoinFoxs]

Buying a Home has many benefits as you can live there and save the amount you have to pay for rental (in case you don’t have your own place to live), you can rent your home and get good rental amount which us another source of earning for you and this is the safest investment as you will get 5-6% increment in USA while in development countries you will earn 30-35% increase per year. Investing in Bitcoin is risky you can loose your capital amount or you can get double amount in return if market is green.

[DeathAngel]

Having Bitcoin is really important, in my opinion it’s the best investment there is. You can’t live in a Bitcoin though & many of us have families. Renting is expensive & a total waste of money. If you can afford to buy a house & also buy Bitcoin then do it.

[Odusko]

Buying a Home has many benefits as you can live there and save the amount you have to pay for rental (in case you don’t have your own place to live), you can rent your home and get good rental amount which us another source of earning for you and this is the safest investment as you will get 5-6% increment in USA while in development countries you will earn 30-35% increase per year. Investing in Bitcoin is risky you can loose your capital amount or you can get double amount in return if market is green.

On every other aspects of your comment, you are right but the last paragraph where you said one can lose all his or her capital in bitcoin is somewhat wrong, because when you investe in bitcoin, you only lose your capital amount of bitcoin if you sell your bitcoin below the price you bought it, because if even though the price of bitcoin crashes down, you keep holding your bitcoin, you have not lose anything yet, you lose only when you sell it off and bitcoin have shown on multiple occasions how bitcoin recover back always each time the price drop, so all that it takes is to have patience in the market that it will recover a d also to be able to wait.
I. Bitcoin, you don't lose money but you can lose time and that is why, before investing in bitcoin, there is the need to have that basic understanding that there is no short term approach that work for bitcoin unless you just want to gamble, if not, there is only one way up which is the long term approach.

[Ale88]

Most people buy into the myth that buying a home is the best investment you can ever make...but more often than not that idea is just a myth.

Take the US as an example. The average house in N. America appreciates 5 to 6 per cent per year, which sounds great at first glance. In 10 years the value of your house will almost double.

But  most people don't take into account the interest rate where the average homeowner is paying approx. 6% annual interest on a typical 30-year fixed mortgage.
So the interest alone is wiping out the gains on your annual 6% appreciation. On top of that you are paying 1% property tax year every year, maintenance and repair costs, etc.

Making matters  worse is that for the first ten years or so most or all of your payments are applied to the interest, so you wont have any actual ownership or equity of the home,
or very little...for the first ten years. And consider that much of the appreciation of your house is simply due to inflation. So if inflation is 5% per year then that alone is undermining your actual appreciation.

I'm not saying that owning a house is a bad thing, there are certainly benefits to home ownership. It provides you with a place to live, you can borrow against it,
you can pass it down to your kids, etc. If you just want to have a place to live and call your own then owning a house may be a great idea for you, but don't think of it as some kind of
incredible financial investment because it is not as great as you may think.

Buying or not buying a house is always a difficult thread, and I would say it really depends on the personal financial and family situation. I'm currently renting and the day I will buy a house it will be because I actually want to live the rest of my life in that house, I wouldn't buy it as an investment. In that case I wouldn't mind spending my investments because otherwise what's the point, taking them to the grave?

Otherwise I agree that just buying a random house as investment is not the best choice, there are better investments out there.

[Dave1]

Having Bitcoin is really important, in my opinion it’s the best investment there is. You can’t live in a Bitcoin though & many of us have families. Renting is expensive & a total waste of money. If you can afford to buy a house & also buy Bitcoin then do it.

Yes, why not take advantage of both, and there are a lot of people who really made money buying home and flipping it, so for me still a good investment. Plus if you can rent it, then for sure you will have a passive income monthly and then you continue to grow and maybe you save enough money to buy another property, rinse and repeat.

Bitcoin is also a good investment obviously as we are all here. But you have to understand that we have bear and bull market, so it's not like that you are going to make passive income. You have to wait for years to be able to maximized your profits.

[passwordnow]

Buying a Home has many benefits as you can live there and save the amount you have to pay for rental (in case you don’t have your own place to live), you can rent your home and get good rental amount which us another source of earning for you and this is the safest investment as you will get 5-6% increment in USA while in development countries you will earn 30-35% increase per year.

This makes sense if you are going to have it rented much higher than your mortgage monthly. I am seeing people does this and increases their cash flow but it doesn't go like that for the most. The best benefit that one can have is about what you have said before, it gives you peace of mind of having a monthly rental unless you mortgaged it then you are responsible for that. Nothing beats living in your own place but we do have different opinions about it and we respect what people think about renting and owning a house based on the pros and cons that they're saying.

Investing in Bitcoin is risky you can loose your capital amount or you can get double amount in return if market is green.

That's what risk is all about, you don't get any gain if you have nothing to risk but at least with Bitcoin, you're not going to lose your capital amount unless you sell at losses.

[Agbamoni]

Bitcoin is also a good investment obviously as we are all here. But you have to understand that we have bear and bull market, so it's not like that you are going to make passive income. You have to wait for years to be able to maximized your profits.

The idea of having both is unique if we have the financial strength. And when it comes to investment, I won't choose one over the other. I feel they are both important because one involves having a physical investment and the other is a digital investment. In real estate, there is so much return on investment similar to Bitcoin especially in the long run.

Bitcoin is also a good investment obviously as we are all here. But you have to understand that we have bear and bull market, so it's not like that you are going to make passive income. You have to wait for years to be able to maximized your profits.

It is not just a good investment but one of the best in this era. Bitcoin can serve as the long-term benefit of investing while real estate can be for short-term profits. Going into real estate for renting out homes is what I mean and the money can be used to sustain ourselves until our long-term investment yields profit. This will help us not to tamper into our Bitcoin investment until the maturity date.

[Solosanz]

Buying a home is a terrible investment if you working abroad and you didn't make much/have a lot money.

In first world countries the rent cost you around $3K and the price of the house around $500K, if you make $40K-$60K per annually, you will not make much even you invest in Bitcoin.

But living in third world countries where the rent only cost you around $50-$70 and the price of house around $30K, if you have $100K to invest, the profit can able to afford your rent cost, which mean it's free.

[Adiepretty]

Most people buy into the myth that buying a home is the best investment you can ever make...but more often than not that idea is just a myth.

Take the US as an example. The average house in N. America appreciates 5 to 6 per cent per year, which sounds great at first glance. In 10 years the value of your house will almost double.

But  most people don't take into account the interest rate where the average homeowner is paying approx. 6% annual interest on a typical 30-year fixed mortgage.
So the interest alone is wiping out the gains on your annual 6% appreciation. On top of that you are paying 1% property tax year every year, maintenance and repair costs, etc.

Making matters  worse is that for the first ten years or so most or all of your payments are applied to the interest, so you wont have any actual ownership or equity of the home,
or very little...for the first ten years. And consider that much of the appreciation of your house is simply due to inflation. So if inflation is 5% per year then that alone is undermining your actual appreciation.

I'm not saying that owning a house is a bad thing, there are certainly benefits to home ownership. It provides you with a place to live, you can borrow against it,
you can pass it down to your kids, etc. If you just want to have a place to live and call your own then owning a house may be a great idea for you, but don't think of it as some kind of
incredible financial investment because it is not as great as you may think.

I don't know about your country but in my country, owning land and have a real estate is still more profitable. Business wise, if you buy land and build apartments on it, you would have monthly profit and the estimated return of investment will be just 9 years.

[iBaba]

The house value might go up, but with interest, taxes, and maintenance, it’s not as profitable as it seems.

I think this conversation will strongly depend on the location you are and how the standard of living of such location is vs the taxes and insurance imposed on properties. It is still cheaper and easier to buy and maintain houses in Sub-Saharan Africa than it is in the Europe and United States.

Let's take for instance, in a better part of a country like Nigeria, if I have funds equivalent to 1btc and I want to invest it, I can share the funds into two, develop a two bedroom flat of building with one half the money which should worth around worth around 40 million naira plus and invest the rest of the funds in Bitcoin, by buying an equivalent of 0.5 BTC which is still a significant amount of digital asset to hold.

[Viscore]

Well, like the first comment already highlighted, investing in landed properties like house might not be profitable in other country but in some other countries it is.

I don't think there is any place in the world where real estate is not profitable, at least the value is going to keep going up, the only thing is the speed at which it rises. Some areas, especially in the city would rise faster and real estate will be more expensive there, but even in rural areas, the value isn't going to depreciate.

You are right, that's why I don't agree with the OP's idea, saying that "buying a house is a terrible investment when compared to Bitcoin." What he doesn't understand is that the volatility of real estate and Bitcoin investment is very much different. The fact that real estate might take lot of time for its value to keep appreciating doesn't make it a terrible investment. The area where I grow up from, if my Dad had bought a plot of land for me twenty years ago as an investment for his son, I would have become a millionaire today because then, a plot of land was very cheap that even the price of all the gift I received as a baby, would have been able to purchase a plot then. Investment is all about patient and having a good knowledge about the asset.

I have to agree with you. If you bought a lot of landed properties before, you could have been a millionaire today, that's how profitable it is right now. Buying a house is still a profitable investment most especially if your intention is to make it a rented apartment, the more you will gain consistent returns from it. Or just buying a house today and sell it in the future, the fact that it also appreciates in time, you will indeed be making a lot of profits then.

[Raflesia]

Having Bitcoin is really important, in my opinion it’s the best investment there is. You can’t live in a Bitcoin though & many of us have families. Renting is expensive & a total waste of money. If you can afford to buy a house & also buy Bitcoin then do it.

The point is as long as we can have both (house and bitcoin) then why not. The focus for the house for me personally is as a place to go home (currently) because after all there must be a place to go home and build a comfortable residence for us and the family we have so of course the house becomes an important thing and must exist if we can afford it as for this said investment then it is a bonus that is owned for me personally because for now my focus in buying a house is as a place to live not as an investment.

As for bitcoin, it is a choice and indeed my choice is still in bitcoin until now as the main investment that I do so that when talking about good and bad investments then of course even though it is full of risks, bitcoin is still one of the best investments that I do today.

[Z-tight]

The house value might go up, but with interest, taxes, and maintenance, it’s not as profitable as it seems.

Take note that BTC is also volatile and it isn't everyone that is ready to store it for the long term, through its price drops and corrections in order to make returns, some people get scared and sell when they are in a loss. BTC is profitable in the long run, but buying a home is never a bad or terrible idea, it gives you a place to live and you never have to pay for rent again, while the value of the property continues to rise.

[Fiatless]

The house value might go up, but with interest, taxes, and maintenance, it’s not as profitable as it seems.

Take note that BTC is also volatile and it isn't everyone that is ready to store it for the long term, through its price drops and corrections in order to make returns, some people get scared and sell when they are in a loss. BTC is profitable in the long run, but buying a home is never a bad or terrible idea, it gives you a place to live and you never have to pay for rent again, while the value of the property continues to rise.

Buying a house for personal use also comes with lots of financial responsibilities. In some countries yearly property taxes are high and you also need to maintain the property. Natural disasters or conflicts in a particular location usually affect the real estate business adversely. Keeping Bitcoin wouldn't attract any major maintenance and you can easily move with your Bitcoin in case of emergency. Both real estate and Bitcoin are good investments and they both have merits and demerits.

[Taskford]

The house value might go up, but with interest, taxes, and maintenance, it’s not as profitable as it seems.

Take note that BTC is also volatile and it isn't everyone that is ready to store it for the long term, through its price drops and corrections in order to make returns, some people get scared and sell when they are in a loss. BTC is profitable in the long run, but buying a home is never a bad or terrible idea, it gives you a place to live and you never have to pay for rent again, while the value of the property continues to rise.

Don't know why people think about buying a home is terrible idea. While the fact that you made your self secure by doing that. If we have capabilities to do it right away I guess its better to buy home first then think about other things like investment next. Since if we prioritize first our investment especially with bitcoin then the market start to fall so bad which we really see that happens on bitcoin then provably that our funds might be gone or in standby mode then with that it will take a lot of time before we can buy our home.

I know lots of people want to make money from their funds on hand that willing to spend on their investment. But we should prioritize our security since we have a lot of chance to find money to use for investment. Price of real estate asset or home appreciate and to bad for us if we can't buy when the price of housing units is currently affordable.

[Strongkored]

but don't think of it as some kind of
incredible financial investment because it is not as great as you may think.

In my country or precisely in the city where I live, house prices have stagnated for the past three years, but because it is a busy area, it is not a problem for many people because they can divide their houses for rent so that they can generate income, and house taxes are low, some are even 0 for certain categories, so if in your country investing in property is not the right choice, it could be the right investment in another country, the important thing is to try to divide the investment in another form to get more profit if it turns out that one investment option does not work as expected, and also having a house provides comfort in life because it cannot be obtained when you still have to move around because you rent.

[Smartvirus]

The house value might go up, but with interest, taxes, and maintenance, it’s not as profitable as it seems.

I don’t know where we get the idea that Bitcoin can’t be taxed. It might be difficult but, you could be taxed on your earnings from Bitcoin if you’re actively trading, gambling and using a few of those regulated CEX. Government always fined a way to taxe incomes through its power on CEX. Although you don’t have to do any maintenance on Bitcoin as opposed to house.
Even then still, I don’t think owning a house of your own is a terrible investment. It might be counter dependent though, based on your nation state as, most of us in the developing nations hardly get taxed for owning a house.

[Zanab247]

Buying a Home has many benefits as you can live there and save the amount you have to pay for rental (in case you don’t have your own place to live), you can rent your home and get good rental amount which us another source of earning for you and this is the safest investment as you will get 5-6% increment in USA while in development countries you will earn 30-35% increase per year. Investing in Bitcoin is risky you can loose your capital amount or you can get double amount in return if market is green.

And it will reduce some expenses of spending on house rent quarterly or yearly which is very important for someone to embrace the opportunity to buy a house or save some money that will reach you to acquire your own house in a particular country. But before you have such mindset to own a house, to where you can settle down to Carry out your business in a particular place or country, you need to ask some questions about the security of the country or place before you can have some motivation to own a house there, because there are some countries you will live, you will not have the freedom to do your business to accumulate your wealth.

I know investing in BTC is risk which I will not lie to you, but you can make BTC your alternative investment in case the estate investment is not making progress the way you want it, you can use some money to invest in BTC during the bear season and you will not be disappointed when the bull season start flowing in the market.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

I have to agree with you. If you bought a lot of landed properties before, you could have been a millionaire today, that's how profitable it is right now. Buying a house is still a profitable investment most especially if your intention is to make it a rented apartment, the more you will gain consistent returns from it. Or just buying a house today and sell it in the future, the fact that it also appreciates in time, you will indeed be making a lot of profits then.

Some people don't like it because it takes time for landed properties to appreciate, and because of how long it takes, they feel that it is only assets that are quite volatile that are most important. Just like Bitcoin, if you invest during the bear market, you have to wait for just four to five years before the bull market starts, and then you can make a profit from your investment, but some properties will take a longer time than the four years that Bitcoin would. 

[SickDayIn]

Whilst yes owning residential property is considered an investment, I do think it's important to look at the benefits of owning property (safety, security, stability), as non tangible benefits, that are not directly measured through monetary returns to justify the investment. I think home ownership is important for these reasons.