Day: January 18, 2026

A few years back, I was seriously looking at buying my own land, maybe a house, a homestead. Now that I’m looking at replacing Big Red, I’ve been learning the ins and outs of the automobile industry, and what it means to buy an automobile.

Truth is they are very different things – but maybe not in the way often emphasized in the personal finance business – a depreciating asset vs an appreciating asset. True, most cars only lose value and most houses gain value, but both are very much consumption items. Houses only gain value if you maintain them well, and are situated in a desirable location with many wiling buyers. A lot of homeowners miss out on understanding homeownership is a consumption activity, homes only gain and retain value if you constantly maintain and upgrade them.

Houses for one can only be bought locally if you plan to commute to work. That was the one thing I found most challenging when I looked at buying a house – commuting and distance from work. While a hybrid work-from-home and in-office option would offer greater flexibility even that involves a bit of a compromise. You can’t live anywheres, and where you live is directly proportional to lenght of your commute.

Cars are very different, especially in the internet age when vast inventory databases are avaliable, long-distance phone calls and emails are free. You get a ride or drive to the dealership to pick up your vehicle of choice. New cars, with the same package and trim are all the same, the package and trim differences are trivial and can be understood by the window sticker and not physically touching the vehicle prior to delivery. Houses and land in contrast are quite different.

You can buy a new car “sight-unseen” with a high degree of certainty that you are getting the desired product and if something doesn’t match upon delivery you can refuse to seal the deal. While you can buy land “sight-unseen” that is usually seen to be wildly risky as sellers photos and websites can depart from what you see online. Indeed, some of the properties I looked at online appear much different when you look inside or even just drive up to it from the road.

Buying a home also requires a lot more people to be involved, including home inspectors, real estate lawyers, title inspections. Used cars are much more similar to home buying, as when you buy a used car, you should always get it inspected by a third party mechanics to know all defects. You also want to test drive and scrutinize a used car much more like a home your interested in buying.

I actually hate the idea of considering an automobile or house an asset of any type. It’s a consumption good, a consumer service that benefits it’s owner with transportation or housing. While there is value in selling a used automobile, people don’t buy cars to hold value, they buy them to enjoy the use of automobile for a number of years before it has to be discarded. Likewise housing, while often retaining it’s value better then automobiles, primarily is about shelter. It would be a bad investment to buy a house in most areas and just let it set vacant in search of future gains in value.