Every day I see more propaganda about the American Dream of owning the home. I see the code words a $15 trillion dollar industry uses to hypnotize its religious adherents to BELIEVE. Lay down your money, your hard work, your lives and loves and debt, and BELIEVE!

But I will qualify: if someone wants to own a home, own one. There should never be a judgment. I’m the last to judge. I’ve owned two homes. And lost two homes.

If I were to write an autobiography called: “My Life – 10 Miserable Moments” owning a home would be two of them. I will never write that book, though, because I have too many moments of pleasure. I focus on those.

But I will tell you the reasons I will never own a home again. Maybe some of you have read this before from me. I will try to add. Or, even better, be more concise.

IT’S NOT AN INVESTMENT

Everyone has a story. And we love our stories. We see life around us through the prism of story.

So here’s a story. Mom and Dad bought a house, say in 1965, for $30,000. They sold it in 2005 for $1.5 million and retired.

That’s a nice story. I like it. It didn’t happen to my mom and dad. The exact opposite happened. But…for some moms I hope it went like that.

Maybe Mom and Dad had their troubles, their health issues, their marriage issues. Maybe they both loved someone else but they loved their home.

Here’s a fact: The average house has gone up 0.2% per year for the past century.

Only in small periods have housing prices really jumped and usually right after, they would fall again.

The best investor in the world, Warren Buffett, is not good enough to invest in real estate. He even laughs and says he’s lost money on every real estate decision he’s made. He’s a liar also. So I don’t know. But that’s what he says.

There’s about $15 trillion in mortgage debt in the United States. This is the ENTIRE way banks make money. They want you to take on debt. Else they go out of business and many people lose their jobs.

So they say, and the real estate agents say, and the furniture warehouses say, and your neighbors say, “it’s the American Dream”.

But does a country dream? Do all 320 million of us have the same dream?

What could we do as a society if we had our $15 trillion back? If maybe banks loaned money to help people build businesses and make new discoveries and hire people.

HOUSING IS NOT AN INVESTMENT, PART II

Let me tell you the qualities of a good investment:

a. It’s not the bulk of your net worth. Good investments are usually part of a diversified set of investments you make in your life, including the investment you make in yourself (acquiring more skills, having more experiences, etc).

b. It doesn’t require heavy debt. (see above, i.e. $15,000,000,000,000)

c. You can get your money back when you need it.

From hard experience I know when I needed money most, it’s exactly at those moments I can’t get it. The house can’t get sold.

And the bank that was so friendly lending the money, starts calling within 12 hours of not getting their check. And then starts suing me.

Usually when I make an investment, I’m not the one getting sued. Except when I buy a house.

ISN’T RENTING LIKE THROWING MONEY DOWN THE TOILET?