[friedman23]

First, real estate and car mortgages are completely different, nobody in their right mind would call a car an investment. I've never seen anyone suggest that taking out a loan to buy a car is a sign of maturity. Loans for real estate can make sense financially and real estate is one way for people to become rich fast.

[bluGill]

Real estate is a bad way to become rich fast (unless your full time job is landlord and you understand how to make this business work). It is often (but not always) worth it anyway, but real estate should break even with inflation over time: not a great investment.

[mrep]

Real estate returns are actually pretty much on par with stocks if you include rent [0]. Granted, if it is your main home, you are just transferring that rent value to yourself but it's still much better to transfer that value to yourself than someone else.

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19817584

[friedman23]

> should break even with inflation over time: not a great investment

This is not historically true and the reason why so many people become rich (and poor) with real estate is because of the amount of leverage it enables.

[bluGill]

I agree with your statement even as I stand by my claim.

[na85]

I didn't use the term "investments"; I used the term "debt".

The debt itself is what's seen as adulthood.