VCJIM – If you read the post carefully, he considered selling it for 17K when he moved. Instead he kept it.
From that point forward it quadrupled. Deciding not to sell it then quadrupled his take when he finally sold in 2000. He was definitely better off holding on to it then selling for 17K. (assuming the rents covered at least half of the carrying costs).
Let me illustrate:
Case 1 : he sells at 17K for a 33K loss.
Case 2: He rents it out for 10 years and sells it for 70K, a 20K gain.
The difference = 53K.
As long as his carrying costs minus rents was less than 53K over the 10 years, he came out ahead (monetarily) by keeping it.
So, to reiterate.
Bad Decision = Buying at a peak
Good Decision = Not selling something you already own at a trough
