I bought my house about 10 years ago. Its worth alot more than I paid for it and always will be. If something were to happen that made it worth less than i paid it wouldnt bother me in the least. I have no desire to sell it and probably never will. As a rental it would be cash flow positive in big way even today.
Now unless I’m not “everyone”, please explain to me how I’ve lost money?
You have lost money because you could have sold for more earlier. Your house has dropped in value, and as long as selling it was an option, that drop in value was a real cost to you.
And only considering the payment means you are ignoring the opportunity cost of money. The monthly cost of your house is cash flow out plus the earning you could have gotten from the capital. For example, the payment on my house in San Jose was about $2,500 a month, but that was on about $450K of the $920K total value. When I sold it, I was able to earn interest on an additional $430K.
None of this is to say that you should have sold earlier, or that you are a fool for not doing so, just that depreciating assets do incur a real cost.
The flip side of this is someone’s comment to me, circa 2000, that I was living effectively rent free in San Jose because of the appreciation of my house. True then, opposite true now.
