In other words, buying vs renting shouldn't only be based on numbers/math. I own a home for 8+ years and I have probably spent shit load of money in maintenance/prop.taxes/repairs that I probably wouldn't if I was just renting but there is no way in hell I am giving up my freedom of doing whatever I want to my home (yes yes there are limits with township/HOA etc). I don't need no landlord to tell me what I can and cannot do with my home for the most part. That itself is worth it for me. And yes there are added benefits like Building equity over years, hopefully having a place of your own to retire etc etc.
Owning your own home is an emotion. It is a feeling that you have a place of your own. You cannot just put numbers on it. Yes don't buy a home if you are 23 and move every 2 years in your car etc. But if you are looking to raise a family, want to settle down in a place, owning a home is almost always worth it as long as you are doing it within your means.
I quite agree with this. People - often people with choices and means (money) - spend a lot of time agonizing over optimal monetary outcomes, except:
You're going to die.
The experiences you accumulate are what makes a life, as one moves through time in a one-way fashion.
No one gives a shit if you die old and efficent, unless that's the thing that made you sleep soundly at night.
I've rented and I've owned. They both have pros and cons. Now, as I get old, I like the idea of owning something where I can do whatever the hell I want, and moreoever, I can live away from humans who have parties, make noise or compete for space. Like you'd find in a rental building. I'd like to be able to build my own gym in a garage instead of timing my trips to a gym based on how crowded it is, and I'd like to buy a couch I'll use for many years to come instead of something that has to move around.
A cost-effective life is only a happy life if cost-effectiveness in and of itself makes you happy.
Yeah. By all means run the numbers. But at the end of the day most people probably shouldn't make a decision based on the numbers except maybe in some specific apartment vs. condo scenarios where they plan to stay in the area for a while.
Otherwise, the type of place you want, how important mobility is to you, your freedom to make changes (and conversely your interest and willingness to do maintenance/repairs/manage projects), etc. should probably mostly be the deciding factors.
I've heard people say they want to buy because they're tired of "throwing their money away." I think it's easy to underestimate how much money homeowners pay every month and never see again. I love the house I own but I don't know if I would have bought it for purely financial reasons. Though living in Washington DC, Zillow claims it's now worth a lot of money (which isn't really relevant to me since I'm not going anywhere for a long time).
I think it's implicitly assumed that anyone looking at the numbers is on the fence about buying vs renting to begin with, otherwise why would they care?
This can be true even if you've got strong opinions on lifestyle, in the case where you're pulled in multiple directions by different needs (e.g. you want to manage the risk of rent increasing at the same time as future house prices rise but you still value mobility, or you're frustrated with landlords but don't have a lot of project work planned, and so on).
Owning your own home is an emotion. It is a feeling that you have a place of your own. You cannot just put numbers on it. Yes don't buy a home if you are 23 and move every 2 years in your car etc. But if you are looking to raise a family, want to settle down in a place, owning a home is almost always worth it as long as you are doing it within your means.