We need, as a society, to bring back generational communities.
Our workplaces are not our families!
I'll also add, that once you have children, owning your home is a very welcome level of stability.
Nothing worse than looking for a new rental and potentially being forced to upend all your routines and find new schools for the kids as you cant rent in the same area anymore!
I think this is the biggest factor if it applies. If we want to be utilitarian about it, the benefit to your kids of having the same school to attend, same neighbors to play with, same room to call their own and paint the walls as they desire, etc. just dwarfs everything else. Kids just do well in stable, predictable home environments.
owning does not shield you from shit like that, maybe in rural america but definitely not in/around the cities
You brought up a good point though, and that’s the trap of being house poor. Too many owners fail to look / have not been taught to factor local property taxes and maintenance costs into their homes. My network definitely has people caught unaware by escrow shortages, siding costs, roof costs, HVAC stack costs.
Despite it all, US homeowners seem to edge out renters, but it doesn’t have to be causative, either.
https://www.aspeninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/AS...
And this is why, despite some negatives, Prop 13 (California) is so valuable. People don't get priced out of their own homes.