[dedward]

A more accurate description would be that you used available credit at the right time to help create a profitable asset, and it ended up highly profitable with low risk.

(I guess I just have an issue with the concept of "buying a house" and "mortgaging a house" becoming synonymous, when they are two very different things.)

[Domenic_S]

I hate when people get pedantic over this. The buyer does in fact own the real property -- the mortgage is secured with an encumbrance.