- Author fails to make the distinction between two aspect of owning a house: for shelter and as an investment. These are two, although related, distinct aspects.
- Author fails to acknowledge that the point of making money an a house ('using it as investment') hinges on not rising prices, but prices that rise faster than inflation / COL, and/or inflation being above the mortgage rate the house was financed with. So no you're not 'just covering a short position', you're covering a short position and going long at the same time, with the same vehicle. But this is of course where the analogy falls apart. I posit that his analogy is unhelpful in understanding the role of a house in personal wealth management.
- You are inherently short the hypothetical minimum shelter requirement home— this is your future housing obligation.
- You may also be long a highly correlated actual home asset.
Appreciation of the latter is not beneficial to you when it is matched by the former. This means, for example, that you should think carefully before obtaining a HELOC against "appreciation" because you can have paper appreciation while staying equal or actually becoming worse off relative to your future obligations.
- Author fails to acknowledge that the point of making money an a house ('using it as investment') hinges on not rising prices, but prices that rise faster than inflation / COL, and/or inflation being above the mortgage rate the house was financed with. So no you're not 'just covering a short position', you're covering a short position and going long at the same time, with the same vehicle. But this is of course where the analogy falls apart. I posit that his analogy is unhelpful in understanding the role of a house in personal wealth management.