Does that 4x figure also include non-deductible mortgage interest (which most people do not take), insurance, taxes, maintenance and personal man hours spent on the place over those 18 years?
Paid cash so no mortgage. Insurance was negligible at around $650 annual. Low prop taxes (RE was in a slump at the time so prop taxes correspondingly low) capped by prop 13 in CA. Yes, I pay an HOA fee, but as I despise doing household maintenance of any kind so I gladly pay this laziness fee to steer clear of using "personal man hours" (until recently I even paid to have the place cleaned!).
Profit comes from living in a shiny happy trendy area (just outside Beverly Hills) filled with shiny happy trendy people who will eagerly pay me outrageously high shiny happy trendy dollars when I vacate and move to a place not populated by mannequins.