Bubble Blogger Review

Bubble Blogger may have a point when he says, "Real estate purchases are a poor investment."
The problem with Bubble Blogger's theory is that people always need some sort of housing. I lived in one apartment for 14 years. The average rent I paid over the 14 years was $495.00 per month. This amounts to approximately $80,000. Had I purchased a home when I was in my 20's or even 30"s, it would have been just about paid for if not paid for. That $80,000 is gone...blown away! No way to put my hands on it! Now if I had purchased some residential real estate, I would still have the value of the property and would have lived in it for literally nothing because I still have the value of the property (unless the property has lost its value which is highly unlikely, forgiving the Great Depression). If you are a senior and own your property (it's paid off), your only fixed expense is the taxes and maintenance on that property. Unless you own a very large home and/or property, your taxes will not equal what it would cost you to rent the same amount of space and landscape. There are some drawbacks to owning versus renting.
One, you could end up with an empty nest...your children have found their own way. My advice would be to downsize. When you downsize, hopefully you will at least recover your downpayment and if you purchased the property early in your adult life you will have retirement income by investing the money. Social security was only meant to subsidize your retirement financial need, and believe me, you will need a lot more than social security provides.
Mr. Killelea obviously is a young man that does not visualize the "bigger" picture. The second drawback is the maintenance of the property. My theory on that is, if you rented, you would pay more rent for the maintenance or association fees. Either way you will pay for maintenance and if there are some tasks that you yourself can do, you have saved some of your money. I say better to own than give your money to the landlord!