Hi Is7550, Clearly you are correct about not selling your house to use the money to invest in a portfolio, but I don't see that it is a substitute for a real estate investment of some sort, apart from your own property. While it is true that most, but not all, investments have an element of real estate in them, I don't see that as a major or significant element for exposure to both risk and gain.
Almost all corporate bonds, for example, have the owned property of the company that issued the bond as a factor, but it is not the main focus unless it is a real estate venture. Could a bond from GM, say, have any better stability if they did not control the plants that they manufacture their products in? My guess is not. Yes, sale/lease back can work but at the cost of higher cost basis for manufacturing because you have to pay the profit the new owner of the factory wants. True, what a sale/lease back does is reduce current expenses but with triple net leases you don't gain anything on maintenance and other costs associated with the property.
So I'm not clear how the real estate that is part of a bond is all that much a factor such that you don't need some REIT like exposure to help things along. Perhaps I'm just missing some element to understanding this.
Best,
Allen
AI
