Besides the fact that appreciation is speculative, I would caution you to really look at the numbers on any house that you are thinking about. 

The company distinguished itself from its competitors by steering clear of speculative land development, instead acquiring a manageable few hundred acres of land at a time and selling from model homes.

The people that are going to get crushed are people that buy assets that have negative cash flow and are speculating/gambling on appreciation.

That is speculation and gambling. 

No decision has been made but media outlets in South Korea are reporting that the technology giant is likely to choose Austin for the semiconductor factory.Austin is already home to a large Samsung manufacturing campu...

Those who do great due diligence seem to always succeed and those that don't often go broke because diligence makes your purchase an investment as opposed to speculation.

I certainly understand that your opinion may vary by market and I cannot base my investment strategy on speculation or “swinging for the fences.”For context, I want to keep my mind sharp and net wealth growing (or stable) as I age once I have the specified amount.

Basing everything on appreciation is speculation ie gambling.

If I understand it correctly all of the 300k is not taxed if the owner has occupied 2 of the last five years for the unit the owner has occupied and has a married status.Let’s say the square footage of the owner occupied unit is 3000 sqft and the rented unit has 1500 sq ft, my understanding in this scenarios is that 200k of the profit will be tax free and the remaining 100k will be taxed depending on the annual income that was made for that year when the property was sold, for example someone making a 150k annual income will be capped at 250k.Sorry if this doesn’t make sense, it’s just my speculative analysis.Appreciate your inputs.Thanks

I won't mention appreciation here since it is a speculative play.