“Worst Investment Ever?” Guru’s Advice on Social Media Is Dangerously Wrong

Busting another real-estate mogul’s proclamation that could cost you over $100k

Opher Ganel
Published in
7 min readOct 3, 2023

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A young couple tiredly holding their faces in their hands with moving boxes behind them in the trunk of their car.
Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/tired-couple-sitting-on-car-luggage-boot-4506229/

Social media makes it far too easy for “gurus” to make proclamations that reach millions of people.

That wouldn’t be so bad if only their advice wasn’t so dangerous to our financial well-being!

Case in Point: Grant Cardone’s Recent Instagram Interview

In a June 2023 Instagram interview segment, Grant Cardone, entrepreneur, and real estate investor reportedly worth $600 million, implied that 2/3 of Americans (US homeownership rate is 66%) are making a stupid mistake.

He said, “Buying a house — worst investment you’ll ever make in your entire life…

“Average house here is $576k… Now you need 12% for broker fees, let’s say you keep the house 10 years. You need 10% in maintenance fees, it’s 1% a year... It’s about 2% in property taxes every year. That’s 20%… And it’s probably 7% to the bank, so that’s 70%… Total those up it’s 112%. A $576 home will have to be sold for $1.2 million in 10 years. You’re not going to sell it for that… To break even. Dead money. And you had to put $100k down to do this deal

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Opher Ganel

Consultant | systems engineer | physicist | writer | avid reader | amateur photographer. I write about personal finance from an often contrarian point of view.