The savings can be illusory because you also have mortgage/interest payments, insurance, condo/hoa fees, lawncare, repairs and maintenance. Within 1 month of buying my house I had plumbing issues, my stove broke, and I had to buy a lawnmower and all these gardening stuff. Then the next year I had roofing issues after a storm, my deck needed to be sealed, my grill broke, a fence in my yard partially collapsed and needed repair, and I got a mole infestation that ruined part of my back yard. The year after that I had to paint the exterior of my house, I found asbethos tile under paint in my garage floor, and found evidence of termite damage in the garage. My air conditioner broke and the repair folks wouldn't come out for 2 weeks and said they gave priority to those that purchase a $300 per year maintenance contract. A branch of a dead tree breaks off and falls next to me in the yard, and I was almost seriously hurt. I had to pay a arborist to come (my city requires this) and then pay them to tear down 4 trees for $8,000. I fucking kid you not. Then my neighbor objects to me tearing down my tree, and I have to file a fucking appeal and pay a lawyer $1,500 for the right for me to pay $8,000 to tear down trees. Then I get a letter that my city's sewer system is old and they are going to spend $35M to replace it. My share is $6,000. I can pay it all now or $2,500 a year for the next three years. The city also sold the water system to a neighboring city and my water bill is expected to climb from $800 to $1,200 per year.

Home ownership, fun times.