Comment by BeetleB
> And a 400k house in the stock market would on average generate 40k a year in appreciation.
Only in your dreams. The massive value increase in the last decade is an extreme outlier. Schiller showed that in the long run, looking overall, the appreciation is only 1-1.5% above inflation.
Sure, some places do get big increases. But it's not the norm.
And some places get big downgrades. Look at Detroit for example. Or commercial real estate at this moment... Line does not always cost up so there is also risk involved.