Quote from: Indamuck on August 02, 2018, 12:37:08 PM

There are quite a few automobiles that appreciate in value (limited model high end brand models).

Only if you don't maintain them and find someone willing to restore them. For instance, if you had an old Ford Mustang, like 1970 and kept it in your backyard, it would still most likely be worth a lot of money, but if we count in inflation, it wouldn't be that much more than it costed 50 years ago. On top of that it would be rusty and need a new paint job, new wheels, and all rubber parts would have to be replaced. So the car would be undrivable without at least 10k USD being thrown into restoration. It's not a great investment.

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Owning a house can be a major headache and in the USA you never really own your house. The U.S. government can take any piece of property they want. How can you ever truly own something if you are basically paying rent (property tax) to the government. So ownership in most places is just an illusion

Yes, this is another problem. In many countries your land can be bought back by the state. This allows them to take your land from you for a fraction of its value if they ever find something in the ground (oil, natural gas) or just want to build a highway.

Quote from: Hydrogen on August 02, 2018, 06:30:49 AM

Liabilities and cost of living are increasing @ a greater pace than wages for the majority of people. This negative trend makes it more difficult for people, on average, to afford real estate annually. Every year real estate, university education, healthcare and assorted expenses become more difficult to afford.

This trend could make real estate a bad investment as it could imply demand will decrease yearly on the dwindling buying power of consumers. Decreases in demand could translate to lower prices being necessary to sustain purchasing volume.

If you take ad valorem tax into account, owning a real estate can potentially bankrupt you. Imagine having to pay 1% of its value a year as tax and the government decides to value the property ridiculously high. This can suddenly happen if something that adds value to your property is built nearby. For instance, the area around your land becomes a national park, which means that nothing can be built, so you will never have noisy neighbors or a factory built nearby. If the value of your land doubles so will the tax. This is an extreme situation but we all know that strange things have a tendency of happening in the most unexpected moments.

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There are potential points which could offset this trend. Demand from foreign investors is typically high. There are many wealthy demographics from foreign countries who wish to buy land or real estate and legally immigrate to america. This is likely one key figure preventing a second US housing bubble from collapse.

IMO The Trump administration is doing its best to discourage people from moving to the US.

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Home and real estate development also has not kept pace with population growth. This makes real estate a somewhat scarce commodity which also potentially inflates price. This could imply that real estate is overvalued and there will be a significant price correction if or when real estate development keeps pace with population growth.

This is an important factor. The problem is that most EU countries have negative growth. Some have neutral, but a positive is a rarity.

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This is a tough topic to breakdown and analyze. What makes it even harder is practically no one in the media giving a fair or objective overview on things.

Has everyone seen the volcanic eruption in hawaii? I've been looking at real estate prices there thinking there could be a significant price reduction for land near an active volcano with real lava. But it seems even there, prices are not decreasing. Real estate markets are crazy. I would be very careful if I were a buyer.

Yea, that's crazy.

Quote from: cellard on August 02, 2018, 04:53:16 PM

If I had the money I would try to own at least 4 apartments in big cities which would deliver a rent high enough to not have to work and live pretty comfortably. These will ALWAYS have a demand. In a globalized world there will always be people willing to pay for it. Many exchange students come to these cities if no locals want to rent it. There is a big demand. Just try to get them in places without troublesome people so you don't have to lose sleep over some fucktard destroying the furniture or whatnot.

I'm actually not sure about this part. Just a couple examples that could make your apartments completely worthless:
A natural disaster (flood, earthquake)
A problem caused by tennants (fire, gas explosion)
A war

Sure, you can insure them, but this will reduce your earnings and the insurance will never cover 100% of the damages.