Quote from spike500:
Completely wrong.
Your money on the bank stays what it is, all you get is intrest; houses have doubled (or even more) in the recent years. So the total profit for the "fool" is probably much higher than the return on the bank.
total return is: yearly income plus increased (or minus decreased) value of the investment.
If real estate is going to fall 20% like the gloom and doomers say then he is fixing to be down 120k of that 600k. If he bought this house for 200k 30 years ago or put 200k in a cd and let it compound 30 years ago, today he would have roughly 800 k in the account versus a 600k house that can lose 120k value during a downturn. If you throw in maintenance costs, new water heater, ac unit, heater, paint, etc and vacancy, advertisment, paying a leasing agent, then he is probably not even makng $200 a month.

