Then you face capital gains taxes if your home appreciated over your cost basis.

Property taxes also apply to home ownership.

Capital gains didn’t apply because of the unique rules around primary residences — our new home cost more than the old. In fact it’s better than other investments in this particular way!

Regarding property tax, yes, but dividends are taxed as well and you generally are going to pay capital gains in the specific situation I’m describing if you replace “primary residence” with “stock”. Primary residences with mortgages have better tax treatment, really. If it didn’t I wouldn’t have a mortgage.

I like to think of this as the Government encouraging you to pay more in recurring taxes by waiving a one time tax - you did end up increasing your exposure to the real estate market and your annual property taxes through this transaction.

Yeah, the parent is being willfully obtuse. Property taxes are taxes that you have to pay merely for holding your investment.

Until this year, you could deduct those taxes up to your total federal tax liability (which may be what the parent is saying), but now you're limited to $10,000. Either way, it's a lot more burdensome than most investments.