<prompt> Human: My coworkers have been convincing me to purchase a home because what I currently pay in rent will buy a house.But I cant figure out the advantage for me because it seems like there is way more than just rent vs mortgage and the house will cost significantly more. It seems like a huge burden.For example my car can get 37 MPG if I do a lot of freeway and a bit less mixed. For 200 miles daily,ball park figure I would estimate 6 gal of fuel used on a daily basis at 3.5gal, 20ish daily, or 400 monthly at current prices. I currently ride my bicycle top work because it is the fastest way for me to get to work, so cost is maybe a 20 monthly, if that, for maintenance. The home will require air conditioning which Reddit posts says is very expensive to operate. I do not currently have such a system at my rental. I have built in gas heater but that only ran for ten hours cumulatively for 2014. The home may require more heater use also in the winter.Then there is the time cost. I would spend probably 4 hours a day driving. This was a biggie for me, but colleague says its not such a big deal once I get used to it. I have never had such a long car commute before. Is it really as trivial as they say? My longest commute in the past was maybe 45-50 minutes on my bike or bus. Bike commute was pleasant and has side benefit of keeping up my health; bussubway commute slightly pleasant , but I did not find it to be unpleasant either.Im probably forgetting other topics too. Property tax maybe? What are the upsides to buying a home?  <response>: I love the nytimes buy vs rent calculator: But even besides that: 4 hours per day driving!?I once lived at home and commuted about 1 hr each way to my work for a summer. Personally I thought it was awful. I frequently worked odd hours just to avoid traffic, but it was still way too much time every day spent in the car. And gasoline is far from the only expense this incurs - I actually think the IRS standard mileage rate is a very accurate estimate of all of the costs wear on your car, insurance, etc. and its 57.5 cents per mile for 2015. At 200 miles per day, thats 115 a day in driving costs. 