<prompt> Human: Potential first time home buyer here. These are the things that I am considering when making this choice:1 we will have to sell 50 of our IBM stock to use as a down payment 2 we will have to pay feestax on the money from IBM stock3 the final monthly cost will be 150 less than what we pay in rent not taking into account the future increase in rent4 the house is in fairly good condition, no major problems5 the neighborhood where the house is located is an up-and-coming part of the city, a lot of renovation is being done in the area we currently live in this neighborhood and love it. not many houses go on sale in this area in our price range6 we have been pre-approved and got good interest rate7 we will only be in the area for about 3 more years This is our biggest concern8 either sell the house when we leave the city OR rent it out for additional income9 we make a steady income and i just got a promotion!10 we are scared to make the next step and are not sure if it is worth it or if we should just keep rentingIt basically comes down to what is the better investment: IBM stock or a house? Any advice is welcome! Not sure if I should have posted this in rrealestateAssistant: Theyre both terrible investments. Owning individual stocks is extremely risky, and a house that youre going to live in should not be thought of an investment in the long run, houses are expensive, illiquid, depreciating assets. That doesnt mean you shouldnt buy a house everyone needs somewhere to live, but its a mistake to think of it as an investment. For your investments, look at moving into low-cost index funds, being as diversified as possible. There are very few reasons to own individual stocks as a personal investor.Human: I agree with you as far as diversifying our investments. Thats one reason why we are considering buying a home. I do consider it an investment, I dont know why one wouldnt. We received a large amount of IBM stock from my husbands grandfather within the past year. Were both a little too scared to move it around which is another issue.  <response>: I do consider it an investmentStop it? 