Buying a home is the biggest purchase many people will make in their lifetime.
But you shouldn’t value your house like a traditional investment, according to CNBC commentator and co-editor of the new book, “How I Invest My Money.”
“It’s really a form of consumption. You own the home as opposed to paying rent for a home that you don’t own, but you have to live somewhere,” Brown said.
You should consider your home as an emotional investment. You spend money on it, because it makes you happy, according to Brown.
And the equity in your home can be misleading.
Once you start doing the math on homeownership, you will find that decades of inflation, repairs and renovations leave you with an asset that underperformed the market, Brown said.
Investing in more properties can make those returns even worse.
That doesn’t mean that real estate can’t be a part of your portfolio. To capitalize on property ownership, Brown invests in Real Estate Investment Trusts or REITs.
REITs allow an investor to own shares in a publicly traded company that owns income-producing properties.
Check out this video to learn more about the REITs that Josh Brown invests in and to hear more about the wealth advisor’s philosophy on real estate.
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Disclosure: NBCUniversal and Comcast Ventures are investors in Acorns.
