I would rather speak to debt as opposed to leverage. Shift risk around. For instance. My parents own their home and are not going to move out or rent. Therefore they can shift the risk of a depreciating investment to the bank by borrowing against it. Let’s say their place is worth 500K. By borrowing against the home they take on a partner (the bank) and simply pay the expense (5 to 6%)in terms of interest. They have effective shifted teh risk of a real estate collapse to the bank.
Now they need to be able to do something with that capital. That is the other side of the equasion.
