Recently replaced the roof on my house and the cost was equivalent to a year of mortgage payments. Prior to that, had to replace the AC for about 6 months of mortgage payments. Next big expense is windows, which I expect to fall somewhere between the two.

Totally agree there are some sizeable maintenance costs, I’ve had to do a roof, windows, remodeling, plumbing, all kinds of stuff. It’s still lots less than the purchase price. And I had to pay them on top of the mortgage, it’s not like maintenance waits to start until the mortgage is paid off, right? Paying off the mortgage simply eliminated one money drain for me but didn’t change the other, so my average monthly expenditure went down.

Rentals have exactly the same maintenance requirements as owned property. The fact that you pay for a lease doesn’t magically make the roof last forever.

As a renter, this overhead is baked into your lease. As a homeowner, I can simply tap into home equity to do a major repair at single-digit interest rates over a decade. Something you will never be able to do as a renter.

$15k to replace the sewer plumbing. $9k to replace the sewer line. $9k for a replacement roof....

I mean, yes, if you do things yourself it can be significantly less expensive, but most of the housing stock in the bay area is atrocious - good bones and awful everything else. They were thrown up as quickly as possible in the 50s-70s and so there's always something that needs fixing.

$18k+ a year in taxes...

You should watch tiny home remodeling, its a tv channel (I think?) I was shocked that a couple in NYC bought essentially a cottage in a high-rise for 10 million, then did a half million dollar renovation on it...

In the country-side that kind of money gets you a 12 bedroom mansion with a pool and a view...

I will check it out if it is online.

I do a lot of DIY but there are times when you just want it done and done quickly and professionally. We work for a living and don't really have time to deal with a lot of the DIY incremental aspects that happen until you get very good at any given skill. I just redid one of our bathrooms, but I wasn't going to redo the sewer lines solo let alone mid-week while living in the place.

The problem with HCOL is that even if you own you're burning cash due to the lack of time and very, very high cost of services.

All that seems like scratch compared to the one or two million sticker price, doesn’t it?

Not really. It adds substantially to the 30Y total cost.

That wasn’t the question, right? I think you’re completely agreeing with me and disagreeing with @xcambar if we’re talking about a 30Y loan and maintenance costs. Maintenance costs and taxes start on year 1 and continue forever. So when you finish paying off the mortgage, the substantial loan payments end and go away while the maintenance costs continue. This will be a big change in your expenditure, speaking from experience.

You're bringing a paradox here: "Owning a house is cheaper if you buy it cash, then you don't need a high salary".

But you DO need a high salary in the first place.

And with that big salary, you will buy a NICE house, which will require a lot of maintenance (house keeping, gardening) and taxes.

There is no paradox. Buying a house is more expensive than maintaining it, partly because maintenance is somewhat independent of purchase price.

I think you’re trying to say that an expensive house is more expensive to maintain than a cheap house. That’s true. But the salary required to buy any given house is higher than the salary required to maintain it, for the most part. I’m sure there are counter examples, but on the whole most people who pay off their mortgage experience a pay raise, effectively, which has been my own experience.