<prompt> Human: I work and live overseas 11 months a year and have no property in Canada. I want to retire in 20 years in Montreal but I dont think buying a home there makes sense. Id rather invest money in ETFs until 2037, then rent a home with the profits. Id rent it in perpetuity since Id only be withdrawing 4 from my saved income. Buying a home in Montreal now and paying it off would, according to my figures, be dramatically less profitable. Heres my logic:Supposing I have 100k and use that now in 2017 as a down payment on an average Montreal condo, valued at 400,000. I get a mortgage at the average of 2.65. So I owe the bank 300k plus interest.Every year I also owe 250 a month in condo fees and 1.7 in property tax, or 6800. Combined thats 9800.Supposing that somehow I got renters in there for all 20 years at 800 a month. Id make 9600 all of this not adjusted for inflation yet so only have to pay 200 a year.However, the interest on the mortgage remains to be paid. A mortgage calculator calculates this as a little under 88,000 over the 20 years. But I also have to pay off the principal, which if I divide by twenty is 15,000 a year. If I divide the 88,000 up into monthly payments and divide up the principal into monthly payments its not mathematically accurate but I believe close. Please correct me if its wildly wrong. I get 88,0002012 367 and 15,00021,250. That totals 1617.ORI take the 100,000, put it in ETFs, and make monthly deposits of 1617. Assuming the rate of return is the historical market average of 7 and increasing deposits at inflation of 3.5, my ETFs will accrue to 1.5 million in 20 years.The condo, originally purchased at 400k will hopefully have increased in value at the rate of inflation 3.5 to 800k.This assumes I somehow got tenants every month for 20 years, I didnt pay tax on the rent, condo fees didnt change, the property tax didnt change, and absolutely nothing went wrong repairs with the condo. Id also have to assume I didnt need a property management company because somehow everything took care of itself. Then, 20 years from now, I would still need to continue to pay those condo fees and property tax. AND I have no savings.In the ETF scenario, I draw 4 a year from my 1.5 million, which is enough to cover rent in Montreal, food, and everything else within reason in perpetuity along with yearly escapes for 5 months to Thailand or wherever Ive already calculated all this based on projected inflation.So...is there something Im not thinking of. I am sure there are flaws in my math, but generally I cant see how buying a property makes any sense in my situation.EDIT: edited for clarifying my intentions to rent in 20 years time.  <response>: Um yeah the biggest benefits from home ownership accrue by living in it. 