> There was a popular internet sentiment ~10 years ago where everyone was convinced renting was superior to buying. "Invest the extra cash in an index fund!"

This is still something people should look into, but it depends on your real estate market and taxation. It's not black magic after all, there are calculators for that: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/buy-rent-cal...

Sometimes it is indeed better to rent.