<prompt> Human: I just sold my 3rd home in 25 years and its caused me to reflect on the costs and benefits of owning a home vs renting. Ive kept pretty good records and heres what Ive come up with. Im assuming that my monthly mortgage payments would equal what I would pay in rent.1990 - Purchased 1st home for 62,000.1997 - Sold home for 120,000. 58,000 appreciation.- 21,000 improvement and repairs.- 7,000 Realtor commission.30,000 profit.1998 - Purchased 2nd home for 207,000.2005 - Sold home for 245,000.38,000 appreciation.-15,000 improvement and repairs.-15,000 Realtor commission.8000 profit.2005 - Purchased 3rd home for 472,000.2015 - Sold home for 553,000.81,000 appreciation.-44,000 improvements and repairs.-28,000 Realtor commission.9,000 profit.So was the 47,000 in home appreciation worth it? Im not so sure. Its less than my realtors made. Although I enjoyed owning my homes, I would very conservatively estimate that I spent at least 200 hours in annual labor that I wouldnt have spent had I been a tenant instead of an owner. Over 25 years that comes to less than 10hr. Then theres the 80,000 I spent on improvements and repairs. Theoretically I could have invested that money in something that would have provided higher returns than home ownership. Or better yet...vacations and fun stuff.Some people have better stories and some have worse. All in all Ive got no regrets but Im going to rent for awhile and Im not terribly eager to buy a home in the near future. Whats been your experience? Edit 1: Good catch. I completely left out the tax benefits of home ownership. This actually makes a big difference. Some quick calculations show that over 25 years, Ive saved around 35,000 with tax deductions for mortgage interest. That puts me ahead 82,000 ahead over 25 years. That probably tips the scales to Worth It.Edit 2: I see now that it makes a big difference depending on location but I stand by my assumption that my rents would have been the same as my mortgage payments. I know this because I did rent homes for a few months between selling one and buying another. In my case, the costs were similar.Edit 3: Many are asking if I accounted for property taxes and insurance and yes I did. For this exercise, I rolled it all into one monthly payment that was similar to a rent payment.Edit 4: There are no capital gains taxes on personal homes that youve owned for more than 2 years.Edit 5: Those of you who caught that I did not consider that I was paying down principal are correct. I should have accounted for that but it was not as dramatic a difference as you assume. Mortgages are very front loaded so that you are mostly paying interest early in the loan. And then there was an interest only loan that I got in 2005. Foolish but I thought the market would go up forever. Thats a discussion for another thread.  <response>: I built my first home for 300K. Put around 100 in it and resold it ten years later for 465K. Took that 465 and built a 2nd house on a farm 25 Acres for 760K. I have about 300K on a 15 year and pay one extra payment a year at a 3.75. The bonus is we dont have our mandatory lawn fee of 350 a month and I get out of the 1000 a month private school I would have had to send my kid to. Plus I have a private well and septic no bills and a 14Kw solar array Im all electric and almost zero out. The ten year old house was at a point that it needed paint mechanicals and had about 3-4 left on the roof we have an metal roof now. Overall a home is not a place to make money. You will always need a place to live. We upgraded because we wanted to build exactly what we wanted. We did live in an apartment for almost two years while building - and it was one of the worst experiences of my life. That and it cost me 1,600 a month plus utilities 38,400 down the drain in two years. We live in the heartland - land is cheap we are on 25 Acres and construction is cheap. 