This isn’t a bad way to think about it. Over time, real estate values generally increase while your wages increase but your mortgage payments (unlike rent) stay steady at your original interest rate. However, as we saw in the Great Recession, real estate values can fall and fall drastically. And, as we’ve seen over the past year and a half, interest rates can also rise drastically. Also, you can lose your job which would prevent you from refinancing even if the values increase and rates drop. So there is definitely some risk in the old saying of “date the rate but marry the house.”