You are the smartest one here.
No house, you rent for 30 years and accumulate 360 cancelled checks. You have paid the owner’s taxes, upkeep, insurance, and sundries.
You buy a house and after 30 years (!) you have 360 cancelled checks good for toasting marshmallows PLUS the ownership of that house which has been a family’s home for that 30 years. It is yours.
Rent or buy, you have lived, eaten, played, had children, vacationed and worked hard.
RENT: 360 checks cancelled
BUY: Property worth (especially now) one hell of lot of money, even after taxes. ALSO, when sold, the money from the house can earn YOU interest.
You left out the $120,000!!!!!! cold hard cash down payment on my last home, the property taxes not paid by renters, the repairs and upkeep not paid by renters.
Putting that 120K in stocks has historically outpaced home/land investments.
Somebody pointed out that stocks MUST outperform homes, or NOBODY WOULD EVER BUY STOCKS, NOT EVER. Who would buy a piece of paper over an incredibly functional asset like a home, if the piece of paper did not outperform the home?