Your assessment is, no doubt, correct. I was just thinking about the change in the capital gains exclusion for houses, a couple of years ago, I forget how much it was raised to, but much higher than it was. The hope was that people who kept buying bigger houses further away from the cities would buy cheaper ones closer in, since they could pocket the gains instead of giving them to Uncle. There was an interview with the planner who thought it up, and lobbied for it, and his hope was that it would be one way of counter-acting suburban sprawl and flight from the cities and all that. But it doesn't seem to have worked that way.
I'd rather have a smaller house and put the money in the bank, maybe even invest it in the stock market. I know some people have more money than they know what to do with, so a big house full of expensive toys is understandable. My dad has a big house full of expensive toys, and a killer swimming pool, and he keeps his boats on the carport, and he's got a beautiful yard. He isn't going to be impressed by a McMansion, and neither am I. |
