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I had to move, but I want to come back. I already have a paid off house in this city after living here for 14 years. Selling it doesn't net me enough profit to meaningfully change things for myself in the new city after taxes, so it's better to hold onto it for when I eventually return.

Presumably value appreciating more than selling it and investing in other assets that are as safe.

Also, houses can allow you to lever up with non callable loans.

> This is so alien to me. Why don’t you sell the place?

Selling might trigger a very large tax liability, depending on original cost vs. current price. When that is the case, it's better to keep it in case you might want to return to the area in the future.

The first $500k of appreciation is tax free. The rest is long term capital gains. If you want to minimize taxes, you should sell your house every time it appreciates in value by 500k and buy a new one. As long as you don't do so more than once every 2 or 3 years, which is how long it takes to reset the tax free increase.