[karaterobot]

The appreciation presumably does not include all the money you spent just maintaining the house, or all the fees involved in both buying and selling. And the costs don't include remodeling the new house so that it's got the things you liked about the old one, or the cost of moving. I'm not arguing home ownership is a bad investment, it's been a good one for me. But every time I look into the actual cost of trading up houses, the calculation gets really complicated, and doesn't look as cut and dry as it did on the back of the envelope.

[gizmo686]

Those are all costs you would need to pay regardless of appreciation.

[dgfitz]

Not calculating/ adding in the additional feels from selling (and usually also buying) a house make your calculations flawed.