Buy a house and make someone else pay you rent. Live in a cheap rent controlled apartment for many years. Win.

When you are older (not trying to knock your age), childless and single its no big deal to live "light".

Tigger's only concern is to have a suitable amount set aside to provide for himself when old age hits and he is no longer able to work.

Personally, if I were in his situation I'd pick up a condo or townhouse. MAYBE a small house (if I were anti social) vs pissing cash away but that's a personal choice.

A condo has it's advantages but can be a major loss in the end depending on the market. I actually owned a condo once and was lucky to sell it for enough to break my loan after 5 years of payments. The owners here are trying to get people to buy these apts but their prices are ridiculous!

To buy the apartment complex? Or just individual?

They want to make these condos...

and in the meanwhile your landlord is laughin his way to the bank, thanks for paying MY mortgage.

w/ your plan you have to pay for rent, save for buying your future home 20yrs from now and save for retirement.

and i agree w/ paul if your single and your age, i'd live like a college kid like you too.

I think the problem with your argument is that you're comparing a small apartment to a larger house. If you want a true comparison, you'd need to compare the same size home to your apartment. Personally, I bought a fairly small house. It's 2 Bdrm, 1 bath, 1 car garage and 3/4 basement. My mortgage, insurance and taxes combined is $440 a month (but I pay $500 to put more toward principal). I put zero down when I bought the house a year ago (VA loan). The same size apartment (without a basement) would cost me $615, plus utilities, to rent. Now, personally, I'm doing some upgrades to my house. They aren't necessary, but they're things I want, so I don't think they're relevant to the discussion. I could pay my $500 per month, live here for a couple years without upgrades, sell the place and quite likely come out ahead vs. renting the same size place. I don't intend to do that, but I could. Now, I don't get a tax deduction for mortgage interest because I'm paying less than the standard deduction, but I still think I'd come out ahead of someone renting the same size place.

Yes, but you're in San Fran, so it stands to reason you'd know several people who've done that.

How much is the rent you're paying compared to the rent you're earning? The reason I ask is, I've always been leery of the idea of being a landlord while still paying rent yourself.....Seems like your net cashflow would zero itself out. Of course, you get some business deductions from being a landlord though.

I could also see it being a good deal if the house you own is way out in the sticks, and you wanted to keep living in a nicer area for quality of life reasons.

Even in the Midwest......larger areas like Chicago.......It wasn't uncommon for people to buy a home in say 2000, and have it appreciate 10-15% every year......

Up until the crash of course.

I'm just saying, this whole idea that nobody makes a profit is hogwash.

In some cases it takes longer than others...............If you bought a home in LA around 91-92, you wouldn't have broken even until like 98-99, due to the bad market in between there. But for those who held onto it........

Try renting in the DC area, California, or New York. For an accurate comparison you really need to compare housing prices in your area. You also need to use the value of a house that is similar in size, similar in amenities, and has very little land. In your costs you are also not factoring in the fact that interest paid on a mortgage is tax deductible. Rent is not.

None of that really matters though. There are a lot of reasons why people own a home rather than renting and only one of them is financial. If those additional reasons do not exist for you, great. You will be happier renting. If those additional reasons do exist you might want to consider buying. The decision is up to each individual, but any of the financial justifications that have been given, on either side, require future knowledge I'm pretty sure none of us have.