Pay heed to what Realtors don't say in their latest pitch.(Garfield's AdReview)(National Association of Realtors)

Advertising Age, January, 2008

A few facts you can bet the house on:

1) The mortgage-interest deduction, tax-policy heir to the century-old general-interest deduction, serendipitously became social policy and the single greatest contributor to middle-class wealth in human history (not that there's much middle class in human history).

2) Over time, housing investment appreciates, and because it is usually highly leveraged-via tax-deductible 85% and 90% and 100% loans-appreciation is very rapid compared with other investments, such as zero-leverage, cash-on-the-barrelhead stocks and mutual funds ...

3) ... provided you don't sell in a down market, whereupon that leverage can absolutely kill you. If you put 10% down on a $500,000 house and the house's value drops 10%, you...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.