Also for consideration is the ability to pay your property taxes and school taxes. I think having those taxes are wrong and communistic, your property should be yours and your family’s forever but that is a little OT for now. Let’s put it this way, try not paying those taxes for 5 or 10 years (maybe less) and then you’ll see who really owns the property. Sometimes it is better to rent and not worry about taxes and in some cases, utilities although if you have a bad landlord, it can come back and haunt you. There is a side of me that I think living like a turtle would not be bad. Buy a 1960’s era Mercury Park Lane and a bullet trailer and just take my home where I go. I also saw a Soviet Army radio truck for sale, stuff a cot and bathroom/shower inside and instant home for a ham radio operator like me. B-) The downside is if you have kids but it might be good for a single person or a couple.
Don't kid yourself. Those taxes are included in your rent.