When I was house-hunting, I found it really frustrating how difficult it is to truly price out the total cost of owning a house. Many people think that renting

When I was house-hunting, I found it really frustrating how difficult it is to truly price out the total cost of owning a house. Many people think that renting is throwing your money away, and buying is acquiring equity. This is true as a first-order approximation, but far from the whole story. Home ownership also has ton of non-recoverable costs: - interest on your mortgage - mortgage insurance (if you have >80% LTV) - closing costs on your loan (2-5% when you buy) - property taxes - homeowners insurance - yard care / landscaping - HOA fees - home maintenance (estimated: 1%/year) - realtor fees (6% when you sell!) - excise tax (~1% when you sell, in my locale) All of these costs come before you have contributed a single dollar of equity to pay down your loan. If you rent, your rent check covers all of the above expenses. I'm still really happy to be a homeowner. I love my house and I love being able to do what I want to it. I just wish it was easier to price out the total cost of ownership prior to buying, so that rent vs. buy comparisons could be more enlightened. I certainly felt like I didn't have enough information to make a totally informed decision when I was choosing to rent vs. buy. Part of what complicates this analysis is: a lot of the financial benefit arises from the house's appreciation, not your accumulated equity. But betting on home appreciation is a bit of a gamble. Home values are subject to a lot of economic and political factors that you can't control. If the mortgage interest deduction went away, or mortgage interest rates rose significantly, it could devalue houses a lot.