I do own a house, but I share your sentiment. I resisted buying until I was 40. I loved the freedom of getting up and leaving if I wanted to. I loved that if it snowed someone else had to shovel. If the furnace broke, someone else had to fix it. Those were great things. But eventually circumstances led me to purchase. It isn’t as bad as I dreamed, but I miss the carefree days of renting. On the other hand, I like the big yard that I have and the hot tub that is in it.
I’m sure your plan will work fine for those folks willing to assume that much risk, but my husband & I are both financially conservative, and have watched relatives lose gambles on “sure things” like house appreciation and their own “liquid” retirement plans.
For the time being we’ll continue feeding our TIAA-CREF and 401k monkeys, and saving on the side for our 20% down. Creative financing & double mortgages are not in our future if we can help it - and right now we can help it.
But thanks. I certainly appreciate you sharing your perspective.
Actually, one advantage of owning a condo, or at least this one, is I still get to watch someone else shovel, and we’ve got a marvelous gardening committee who do a much better job than I can. On the other hand, a friend of mine who rents has him mowing the lawn included as part of the terms of his rental. Here, they’ve been known to plow and salt the parking lot before the road outside is plowed and they put snow shovels by the doors so you can dig your car out in winter. Things like that made buying this place easier.
CJ
I have no real interest in buying, either. I’m 29, so I have time to change my mind, but at this point renting is so much easier, and I am putting away money for my retirement. I am not sure I know where I want to settle down anyway.
My family is after me to buy a house and sell it in a few years when I “get bored of it”. I don’t understand this mentality at all. When I settle, I want to settle, and not play the field in houses.
I like that all my housework is done for me. When something happens to the plumbing at 2 AM I don’t have to call the plumber and pay a fortune. I just call the apartment people. I don’t ever shovel anything other than my car, and I don’t plan to have any kids or any pets bigger than a small bird.
Maybe I’ll change my mind…just like people say I’ll change my mind about not having kids. But for now I’m pretty set.
Yeah. 
I live in a college town with a population of about 9000. There is no “city” and no “burbs”; just “town” and “ranches”. Anyone planning to stay here for a significant amount of time is better off buying. There are no condos or townhouses here. I personally can’t imagine buying a townhouse. That seems like living in an apartment, and that’s what you do when you’re poor and in college. But I also recognize that I live in a different world than people in cities.
Right now, I’m just renting a house until I can save up enough of a down payment. Mortgage payments will be the same or cheaper then my current rent and it’s going to better to start getting some real equity.
I am going to miss having someone else deal with all the maintenance stuff though. I found out today that we need a new furnace, and I’ll I’ve got to do is call up the landlord.
You prefer them to remain shitass burned-out toilets? How does that improve the situation?
I like renting, as long as it’s cheap enough. When I look at paying $2000+ a month (at the low end), which I’d have to pay if I moved out of my tiny rent-stabilized apartment and into one that’s actually sized correctly (barely) for my family, I can’t imagine paying that much and not having any equity to show for it.
I’d say you do. 
I’m in the process of closing on a townhouse now myself. Actually, to be specific, my mother’s going through the process. She’s decided she wants to begin investing in real estate, and for her first place she wanted a sure-fire tenant, namely me. She’s handling all the upfront costs that I simply could not afford on my salary, and from there I’ll pay the monthly mortgage, which will be cheaper than my current apartment rent with joint ownership. I probably wouldn’t have bothered moving out of my apartment otherwise.
I have to say, though, it’s really nothing like an apartment; at least this one isn’t. It shares two walls with neighbors, but it’s otherwise a fully-fledged house (if a small one). It’s really an improvement in every way I can think of (good-bye, community laundry!), and the fact that Phoenix is growing incredibly fast means the value will shoot up PDQ. It’ll be a nice change to not simply throw money down the toilet for once.
Then there’s the supposed potential for tax cuts for being a homeowner, but I don’t know much about that, only that they probably do exist.
It does take a lot of money to get a house in the first place. This little townhouse is below $100k, and we’re still paying about $15000 total for all the closing costs and such. Being just out of college and in an entry-level job, I definitely couldn’t afford that by myself.
That all said, I completely understand the people who don’t like being tied down to any one place for long; I have every intention of leaving Arizona after spending a few more years here. On the other hand, ever since I left my parents’ home for college, I’ve moved to a new apartment every year for the last five years except one which I lived in for two. (Ironically, that was the worst apartment I lived in.) It’ll be nice to chill for a while in my own home; and the nicest part about the whole arrangement is I’m not bound to a lease. If I get a surprise opportunity, I can leave the house at any time and my mother can find a new tenant or do what she will with the house. That appeals to me more than being stuck in constant 6 or 12 month leases.