I read a quote the other day and it really struck a chord with me. The quote was, “Real estate cannot be lost or stolen, nor can it be carried away. Purchased with common sense, paid for in full, and managed with reasonable care, it is about the safest investment in the world.” Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of USA.
In today’s market, “paid for in full” is quite a stretch, but everything else rings true. I can’t find when FDR said it, but it was probably the better part of a century ago.
Why is real estate such a safe investment?
- It’s considered safe because it’s real. It’s bricks and mortar, we can see it, drive past it, visit it when we’re on holidays. We’ve never experienced a real estate crash like we experienced the GFC because property is less volatile than the stock market.
- We can understand it better than we can other investment options. Let’s face it, there are many self-proclaimed property experts and we do need to fact check rather than taking everything at face value, but we get the basics and often more than the basics.
- Over the past decade from 2011 to 2021, the Australian property market increased in value by 70.27%*. That’s pretty phenomenal, and something most of us want to get in on.
I also love that FDR put the caveats that real estate must be purchased with common sense and managed with reasonable care.
I couldn’t agree more!
If you’re ready to invest and need to run the “common sense test”, I’d be more than happy to make sure you tick that box.
