[jjav]

> Houses can be cheap, or they can be a good investment. Not both.

> I think I read that here on hacker news a few years ago, and it has stuck with me.

It's repeated in every HN discussion about housing.

Also, it's too simplistic. It's basically impossible (barring a complete market meltdown like Detroit back then) to not increase your net worth owning a house.

You have to live somewhere. If you buy a house you (very slowly) end up owning it. A house has nonzero value. Now you have some equity, aka wealth. Even if the price depreciates it's not zero, so you built some wealth (vs renting where you could've rented for 60 years and still own nothing).