When Is Your Home Not an Investment?

"Shelter. Memory Box. Labor of Love. Artform. Retirement account. Get rich quick scheme. Showcase for conspicuous consumption.

"The American home has always been a receptacle for our myriad needs and desires. Yet lately many experts have observed that the real estate boom has skewed the meaning of our homes. In the wake of stagnating incomes, regressive taxes and the expectation of Social Security collapse, middle class home owners increasingly looked to real estate as a source of financial redemption. When God, pensions, the stock market and the government failed, the humble house provided more than a modicum of security, and with any luck, several hundred thousand dollars in untaxable capital gains."

These words began Carol Lloyd's "Surreal Estate" column in this Sunday's Chron. Lloyd's column has not always been kind to Realtors, but this week we found her echoing a sentiment we've been sharing with many of our clients lately. Namely that the real estate boom of the last several years severly altered people's sense of what their home was meant to do. For far too many homeowners, their principal residence became the repository of all their financial dreams; a way to pay for early retirement, kids' college tuition, and a chance to drive that fancy car. Along the way, we forgot about a home's first and foremost purpose: a place to live.

This is not to suggest that we shouldn't view our homes as investments. Rather, we only suggest that, unike your I.R.A, 401K, C.D.s and stock options, a home is not purely a financial instrument. Seems so obvious, yet so easily forgotten.