Why I Wouldn’t Buy a House Even If I Had the Money
Why I Wouldn’t Buy a House Even If I Had the Money
I’ve always believed buying a home was the ultimate long-term move. That’s what everyone says, right? “Buy as soon as you can.” “Renting is throwing money away.” “You’re wasting your potential.”
For a long time, I agreed.
But once I actually learned how investing works, everything changed. The stock market grows about 10% annually on average, which means if you invested $100,000, you’d earn around $10,000 a year without doing anything. That kind of growth isn’t an opinion — it’s math.
And once you understand compounding, you look at homeownership completely differently.
When you buy a home, your money gets tied up in one big, illiquid asset. You’re locked into a location. You inherit maintenance costs, property taxes, repairs, interest, insurance, and the responsibility of keeping everything running. People forget that being a homeowner basically means you’re the landlord of your own life — and you pay for every problem that happens.
Renting doesn’t mean you’re “throwing money away.” It means you keep your cash flexible. You don’t have to drop $40k–$80k on a down payment. You don’t need to worry about replacing the roof or fixing the water heater. And instead of sinking everything into a house, you can put your money into investments that are historically faster-growing than real estate.
For me, that’s the key. I actually use my investment gains to cover my rent. My money works for me, and I don’t have to deal with repairs or being tied to one place.
But I’m not anti-homeownership. If you plan to live somewhere long-term — 10, 15, 20+ years — buying a home can absolutely be a great investment. It can give you stability, predictability, and long-term equity. For some people, that’s exactly what they want and need.
It’s just not what I want. Not right now.
I don’t want to commit to one location. I don’t want to worry about surprise repairs or maintenance. And I don’t want all my money trapped in one asset when it could be growing in the market instead.
Renting gives me freedom. Investing gives me growth. And for where I am in life, that’s the smarter long-term play
Many of your assumptions are missing real world outcomes. Not many people have $100k to drop into the market. for starters, a $10,000 win in the market means you only get to keep about $6;500 because taking profit means paying taxes, perhaps more depending upon what state you live in. There are ways to do both at the same time and generate far more wealth than some taxable cash every year. Speaking from Experience here with zero speculation!
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