Yes, lest anyone thinks I am advocating for real estate to be one’s primary investment vehicle, nothing could be further from the truth. We own three investment properties (the two rentals and I also own the SFH that my parents live in) and in total they are only 20% of our retirement portfolio. The stock market has been very kind to us but I sleep better at night knowing that some of our higher return/risk based investments will never be worth zero (As is theoretically possible with any of our securities).
And again, as with any investment, if there is a chance you would be forced to sell in a down market, you can’t afford RE. As long as that is not the case, a single expensive event will not wipe out your returns over the life of the (relatively small) investment.