You realize that in most areas of the US you can buy a perfectly nice house for $200k right?

Assuming you had $2 Million in assets to start that would still leave you with $1.8 Million which assuming modest returns of 2.5-5% would still leave you with a yearly income of $45k-$90k which is an obscene amount of money if you mortgage is paid off.

I think his point is that if you happen to have $400K in the bank, you can buy a $2M house in Silicon Valley with 20% down, make $400-500K/year combined, and in 10 years retire with $2M in the bank and the house paid off. While if you live elsewhere in the country, you could buy the $200K house free-and-clear, make maybe $150K/year combined, and...well, in 10 years you'd also retire with about $1.5M in the bank and the house paid off.

You forgot that the $2 million dollar Silicon Valley house would be worth three to four million in ten years time.

...hopefully.

Not really, because an industry that relies on ageism and where the kids can't afford it today would be destroyed by higher prices in the future.

And once SV employers are destroyed, one guess what happens to the property prices...

A 50% increase in 10 years is about inflation.