The problem is, renting often ends up owning you too. I'm no stranger to the anxiety of leaky pipes, dry rot, flooded garages, water damage, crazy people you can't easily more away from. On the other hand, I know people who have had to move a few times now because their rent keeps getting jacked up. Single family houses, as well as apartments in many Bay Area cities, aren't rent controlled, so you never know when you're going to be looking at a huge rent increase.

Choose your poison.

Depends how big the home is.

Relative to your income.

My home was about $120k. It’s easily affordable on a tech industry salary. The median household income in my county is under $30k...

Ahh, so you mean the debt owns you, not the house per se.

I'm not jacob019, who originally made the comment, but as I understand it, the point was not the debt. The point was the maintenance. When the basement floods, it's my problem, not the landlords. When the attic fan fails (I was surprised that attics had fans), it's my problem. When the driveway concrete starts to buckle, it's my problem.

In that sense, the house owns you, not the other way around.

this.

That’s what I thought you meant at first, hence my size comment.

Is this just a general comment about mortgages? As it stands, my mortgage is significantly less than most people's as a proportion of my income.