Originally Posted by FricFrac

... you're right I should have invested in the stock market.... LOL!

If you didn't need to pay for housing then what you are saying has some merit but as most people who actually know about real estate can tell you that its the closest thing to a sure thing in investments..... stocks suck but I can tell you even in the worst market I've never seen rent go down and even now in this economy the vacancy rate here is only 1.2%. Besides if you are at the stage where you are renting out one of your properties you have someone paying your debt off for you and you are building equity in your investment at the same time. Take out a loan for an investment in the stock market and see how your return pays that loan off AND earns you money...

My dad lost about 40% of his life savings in mutal funds, etc - you know the safe bets. If he had kept his real estate he would own multi millions in real estate and easily live off the rentals alone.... but he listened to his investors (multiple investors - he would give them each $10K and switch to the one who made the best investments for him) and got rid of his real estate to fund his next project.... I won`t be making that mistake....