When we put down our deposit on our first house in 1974 I was carrying my first child. It took a few months to go through the paperwork, so we moved in when he was six weeks old. That house was bought to be a home. We didn't think it prudent to rent, if we could afford to buy, and we didn't want to raise our children in New York City.

We stayed in that house for 48 years. It was always a home. It grew to be an investment as time passed, but it was always essentially a home. It sheltered my family, and over the years a number of family and friends who needed a place to stay.

It turned out to be a really good investment. That was just luck. Also, a determination to not have debt, to not use the house as a piggy bank.

Whatever 'profit' we made from that house was incidental to the joy and comfort it brought us (and others) over the years.

Tough times now. I don't know what we would do if we were starting out today.