You are absolutely correct. The reality of life is that all of the advice over the last 15 years to run out and create a real estate empire was terrible advice, because it's all leveraged. It is all self-serving and self-fulfilling. You are correct: In reality, people should have bought one home, put money into inexpensive ETFs and just husbanded their resources.
I say this because every time you recommend leveraging investment, you're taking on an outsized risk that you in all likelihood should not take.