a perspective might be obtained from turbotax which can calculate average rent on a county basis. are you paying more or less than average for your area? if less, then you might have less of an issue to bargain about. typically unless you are paying much less than average, you might be losing money relative to those renters who are buying starter homes or who have already done so or who have solid plans to do so.
my very limited understanding is that:
the main problem with buying a home is that real wages have declined due to inflation while home prices are up due to inflation. the income tax is designed to subsidize home buyer mortgages and presumes that wage earners opt for that asap. typically one needs to jump on the home mortgage bandwagon early in one’s career to take advantage of the mortgage tax deduction.
this plan has become screwed up over recent decades by infation which is putting home ownership out of reach financially for young prospective homeowners. dual income marriages have not helped with the drop in long term marriages.
also frequent job hopping to different regions does not help build homeowner equity.
From my Pennsylvania perspective, the main problem is that people are looking in all the wrong places for a house they can afford, and I don't mean "location." I mean the listings and especially the listings of houses that a bank would approve for a mortgage.
Would you buy a shiny new car? If that's in your budget, have at it, you don't need anyone's advice.
Cutting to the chase, look around for a potential fixer upper without major problems, without a prayer of qualifying for a mortgage, and without a realtor attached to it. "For Sale By Owner." Find a vacant home, find the owner, make them an offer with a handful of cash deposit and a written agreement. Yes/No. "No" means they get to keep paying taxes, insurance, maintenance, and they get to keep the liability too. So it's likely to be "Yes."