Lets say you buy a home for $300k, and put down a $100k payment and take out a $200k loan. The house was purchased for a fair, properly appraised value.
Does this mean that you are now $200k "in debt"? I read people referring to this as debt, but to me that doesn't make much sense. The house has a real value equal to the sum of your equity and your principle.
If a year down the road the house is reappraised for $250k, I could see how that would lead to "real debt" and being upside down in the loan, but as long as the assets securing a loan are worth more than the principle, is it correct to say that you are in debt?
Is there more than one context for "in debt" where it could be true in one sense, and not true in another?