Personal Finance Experts Needed on Homeownership vs Renting Costs

Doing the math on a $400,000 home 20% down = $80,000 up front. 6.5% mortgage for 30 years Zillow estimates payment of $2,331/mo $2,331/mo x 12 = $27,972 $27,972 x 30 years mortgage = $839,160 paid for a $400,000 house. What’s not accounted for is the cost of replacing appliances, roof, siding, painting, maintenance, yard work, taxes going up etc… they say maintenance is about 1% of the house cost a year so that’s $4k which is $333.33 a month So really your cost of ownership over 30 years is: $959,000 paid for a $400,000 house. So the banks/mortgage lenders make a nice amount of money selling the idea of home ownership “Mortgage is the minimum you pay per month and rent is the maximum you pay per month” Seems like the only people begging you to buy a house are real estate agents, banks, and lenders because they’re incentivized to do so. I don’t see where there is a net positive to me for owning a home… I’m open to change my mind as I don’t have first hand experience The alternative people will say is “well it’s better to pay your mortgage because then after 30 years you have some equity and ownership whereas with renting you own nothing.” That might be true but what if instead of spending on average 1% a year on home maintenance ($4k in this instance) you invest $4k/yr in your investment account over 30 years? At 9% - $4k per year is $609,000 that’s fully liquid and not tied up in a house. When you buy a house you are also gambling that it will be worth more in the future and that it’s in a good area and you’re hoping someone in a future generation comes along and will pay you more than what you paid for it…that depends on a lot of variables and nobody can guarantee it (you can’t guarantee investment results either) The more I think about it there’s no clear answer and it’s just preference. I want to own a home but it doesn’t feel like a good deal. The only case for a house it seems is to “feel good”. Whereas renting you have less headaches of maintenance and you have more freedom of mobility I’m not in real estate so I need some experts to weigh in sine one of my goals is also wealth building so I want to make the best decisions