Exactly. My own home is worth 3 times what I paid for it. That's insane.

Many seniors are forced out of the homes they spent decades paying off simply because they can't afford the insurance and property taxes due to the inflated values. Houses should be for living, not speculation and debt leverage. The whole system is broken when the average person can't afford to own a home. When I was a kid the average Joe, if they had a steady job, could buy a home. My parents did it on my father's salary alone. They were even able to save money and had 3 kids to raise. We weren't wealthy, but we weren't poor either. Something is seriously wrong with the way things are.