You certainly did not win the lottery.  If you simply invested that 250k in the TSX over the past 28 yrs (which had an avg return of about 7.5%), your 250K would be worth almost 2mln.  If your numbers are correct, your house has gone up approx 5%/yr.  An argument can certainly be made that you are worse off for buying the house - so not even close to a "lottery winner". 

Obviously there are tax issues with both the stocks and house, plus reno costs and upkeep vs. cost to rent, etc., but I find publishing articles such as this misleading.  Please do a thorough analysis of the numbers before you publish such a misleading article. 

I'm pretty sure if you posted an article titled "I made 5%/yr since 1989!", most people wouldn't even look at it.