<prompt> Human: Renting sucks in all manners of the sense. You have no equity. You can rent a house for 5 years and pay in over 50,000 an have jack to show for it. You cant fix anything yourself, and being a DIY person, this kills me. My LL is a one-man job, which means waiting a couple weeks sometimes to get things fixed. I love mowing the grass, and of course with an apartment, you dont have that pleasure. Some wont even allow pets, or allow you to work on your own car. 65 of households rent, which was 10 100 years ago. All the cheaper homes get bought up by property managers. Try finding a fixer upper home, they dont exist anymore. Now rent is getting so high in some areas, people cant afford it. 3,000 for an apartment in some areas, these people should have their balls removed. Of course their credit and income is a reason why people arent buying. Renting is a huge scam.  <response>: It seems you have a few misconceptions about owning and renting: Owning a house and paying of a mortgage is one way to build equity but not the only way. Its not because youre a DIY person and dont have to hire someone, fixing problems in and around the house becomes free. Tools and materials cost a lot of money. A lot of what you speak about is region-specific. In some areas 3k rent a month is pretty average. In other areas its enough for 5 months rent. Renting isnt a scam, its simple supply and demand and there are of course trade offs. It reduces risk and increases flexibility, which is very valuable to many people. The trade off is that you do not build real estate equity. Which is best depends from person to person, but saying its a scam is ridiculous.I recently bought a condo, very happy I did, but while its a very recent building I did have a lot of costs that I wouldnt have had if I stayed in the apartment I rented. For me its worth it, if only for the psychological effect. I also believe that while a case can be made that for many people renting is simply better, owning a home by the time youre retired and 60 is always better. 