Drawing Conclusions: Is renting really a waste of money?

You’re forgetting about the opportunity cost of locking up all of that capital in an asset that has a high carrying cost (maintenance, taxes). The initial downpayment could have been used for other investments, so you have to compare how much you could have earned if you’d invested and rented instead of bought the house. ▶ this video

> you very well might come ahead There's a wonderful video[1] explaining just that. The TL;DW is that if you compare a renter & a buyer from day 1 to the end of a 25 year mortgage, both the renter and owner will have roughly the same net worth. My folks always talked about how renting just pissed away money, but never mentioned how mortgages piss away an obscene amount of money on interest payments. (And repairs/tax/insurance/HOA/etc.) [1] ▶ this video

The Globe and Mail also has a great comparison of rent vs buy using numbers from Toronto (includes closing costs, taxes, maintenance, inflation, etc): ▶ this video (buying comes out slightly ahead assuming you don't move for 25 years, and the renter averages 7.5%/year returns on their investments, and, and, and etc.) TL;DR buying is probably better if you don't move very often, but there are so many variables that you can't know beforehand -- that you need to be able calculate whether renting vs buying is more profitable -- that it's probably not worth worrying about. EDIT: The NYT also has a nice visual calculator for this: link You need to know about 21 variables (that can change over time during the lifetime of your mortgage).