I agree with Robert Kiyosaki's philosophy on this, the house you live in is not an asset, as there are monthly costs involved in just maintaining it, even if it is paid for. Also, we have learned over the last few years that real estate values can drop by 50% nearly overnight.
A house is obviously a necessity and can arguably be called an asset, just like an automobile used to commute back and forth to work but according to Kiyosaki's philosophy as outlined in Rich Dad, Poor Dad, anything that costs to maintain is a liability and anything that brings in a positive cash flow is an asset. For this reason, he recommends, keeping the dwelling place simple until one has enough true assets to pay for this liability.
I certainly agree it s better than renting though if you are going to be in a place long term because that property is an asset to the landlord and they are in business to make money like us all.
They're a big money pit and things constantly go wrong and even when you try to get things fixed most contractors/repairmen (sorry haven't had one lady plumber in my life) do a poor job. If you try to do something yourself you'll probably just make it worse. Then you have to cut the grass and paint. You're constantly worried that something will go wrong. Plus, you don't even really own it because you are in debt to a bank. The ONLY good thing is you don't have to hear those idiots upstairs banging around, but you might get bad neighbors and then you're in the same situation.
weylon.com 