One of the greatest things about owning your home is that you can actually sell without actually selling!  That's right, you can actual cash out on your investment when suitable, assuming you meet the given conditions.

Over time, the value of real estate tends to appreciate in value (although this might be in question in some areas).  Conversely, things like cars, RV's, boats, etc. tend to decrease in value.  When something goes up in value, the "equity" in the investment goes up.  This means that you have a return on your investment.  But, it is important to remember that, the return can do back down just as fast as it went up. 

So, if you want to capture your return, without actually selling your property, you can cash out your equity through a cash out refinance.  Essentially, this means you are selling without actually selling.   The best advice that I could ever give would be to cash out your investment while you can (although a cushion of 80% loan to value is my ceiling), but it is essential that you do the following things in order with the cash:

1) Pay off bad debt (i.e credit cards, car loans, etc.).  These cost you money and you don't have an income tax advantages.  They are also amortized over a shorter amount of time meaning they cost you more per month than a mortgage.

2) Have enough savings for a rainy day.  That means that you should have a cushion of 6-12 months worth of living expenses in case you lose your job or ability to earn income.

3) Invest the remainder with a good financial planner.  Make sure that you are diversified so that if one of your investments tanks, the other ones may thrive.  Always create a hedge against the worst case scenario so you are always growing your portfolio. [Important note:  the equity in your home is part of your asset "portfolio"...so diversify it by cashing out and investing it]

If you do these three things with the cash, I can assure you that you will be on the path to financial freedom.  There will be a point at which your savings and investments equal the amount of money that you owe on your mortgage.  It will usually be less than 30 yrs, but individual results may vary.  I've seen people acheive this in a matter of 10 years and I've seen people take 28 years...it just depends.

A word of warning...be cautious with the cash.  I've also seen people blow their money and end up right back where they started...in a crap load of debt.  Not a good scenario, so listen to the advice of a professional.

To sum up, mortgages help you create wealth because they allow you to sell without actually selling.