Landlords aren't in business to lose money. There's property tax being paid on your property. There's maintenance being paid for on your property. You're paying

Landlords aren't in business to lose money. There's property tax being paid on your property. There's maintenance being paid for on your property. You're paying for it all - you're just getting it in a single bill. From a property tax standpoint you're effectively paying it but you're not able to deduct that from your earnings for income tax purposes. You don't have to worry about mowing the lawn unless you want to. Where I live the annualized cost of lawn care is $67/month. You can even have maintenance taken care of for you - replace appliances, plumbing, electrical, heating/cooling - the whole works - and that'll cost you between $100-$150 per month. Even with those additional costs I'm only paying $300/month more than those renting a 2 BR apartment having less than half the space. The end of your comment is important too - you don't want to overpay for a house. Sometimes renting is a good short-term strategy to wait-out an anomalous market or determine long-term market direction so you can avoid an expensive mistake. Renting is also a good strategy if you believe you'll be moving soon. The rule-of-thumb is don't buy unless you're going to be staying for five years.