Also that in most places, mortgage payments + taxes are cheaper than rent for the same property, plus you are building equity. The only real difficulty is scra

Also that in most places, mortgage payments + taxes are cheaper than rent for the same property, plus you are building equity. The only real difficulty is scraping up enough cash in hand to pay the down payment - which is where the massive increases in house prices really hose you. 20% of 100k is not unreasonable to save up over a few years on a median salary. 20% of 500k or 1M is completely out of the reach of people outside the top income brackets.