“it’s often said on this board that real estate is traditionally a horrible investment over the long-term.”
I don’t recal a lot people saying that real estate is always a bad investment. It’s all about timing and how much investment is made in the RE if you expect it to cashflow. If you bought between 2003 and 2006 specifically, then the asset price was too high to get an immediate return as an income property. Basically, you would have essentially speculated on the appreciation as opposed to market rents to generate a return. Big difference between and investing and speculating.
