My buddy is single. He bought a house in his 20's in 2011. He paid about $130k. 3 bed 2 bath, built in the 1960's, suburb of a major metro city. His monthly payments were just under $1,000, which was about par for a decent 2 bed 2 bath apartment in the same city.

Unlike my continued-to-rent ass, his house appreciated in value to $166,000 when he sold it. He received a check for nearly $55,000 from the sale, which he received tax free.

He's still single tho.

Owning a home is most often the largest asset the average person can invest in. "It just isn't for me" is just rhetoric from people who:

A) have transient lives and only live in a city for less than two years before leaving the area;

B) don't have any resources to qualify for homeownership; or

C) are not well educated on how finance and investing works.