The reason I don't consider the equity in your primary residence when assessing wealth isn't because a house is a liability. That's just click-baity nonsense espoused by the wannabe financial "guru" Robert Kiyosaki.

A house is always an asset, even when you have a mortgage on it. The house is an asset and the mortgage is a linked liability.

Sure, there are costs involved in homeownership, like the ones you mention. But if you own a large stash of gold, you'll need to find a secure place to store it, and likely pay insurance against theft. That doesn't make the gold a liability!

Further, the costs of homeownership are nearly always lower than the cost of renting a comparable place, or the landlord would charge higher rent to cover their expenses!

The reason I exclude the equity in your primary residence from your investable wealth is because it doesn't generate income. Thus, you need to consider its costs in your budget, and need enough cash flow coming from other sources to cover those.

Once you or your heirs sell the house, there will most likely be a good bit of appreciation, and the value caught in the illiquid equity will become investable.