My personal house that I lived in was not a time suck -- it was a waste of money. Considering that now, 16 years after I bought it and 7 years after I did a "strategic default", it's only worth $7000 more than it was after I bought it.

Now the two rental properties I owned at the time -- those were time and money sucks.

On the other hand, walking away from three houses and five mortgages, and buying a new house in a better neighborhood less than four years later was one of the smartest things I've ever done.