[Blue Jays]

"...Bottom line, if I were 25 years old today, I would rent..."

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Absolutely concur. My taxes increase at a rate far beyond my occasional raises at work. Not even for demonstrable reasons.
Renting allows one to fine-tune their situation with greater ease. One can add or delete roommates and/or switch to a different place.
While those avenues are somewhat available to those who own their residences, there is much more affiliated complication.

[lacrew]

I should also add - I live in flyover country. Its about a wash filing taxes with standard deduction vs itemized deductions. If I lived on the left or right coasts, the mortgage interest deduction would become more meaningful to me, but as it stands now it doesn’t really matter.

A co-worker worked hard to pay off her house early, only to discover that 40% of her house payment had been escrow stuff for taxes and insurance. A house is never truly paid off, sadly.