Well, allow me to do a few simple math operations for you. (It’s the old math Ph. d student in me lol, I sometimes try to make a simple math argument)
Let’s compare
B = Buying
R = Renting
B > R ?
To do so, add and subtract R on the left:
B - R + R > R ?
This operation can be described in the real world as “Buying a house, renting it out to someone else, then renting a similar house anywhere you want”
Now we can subtract R from both sides and we get:
B - R > 0 ?
In other words, is buying a house and renting it out to a tenant better than doing nothing? It turns it into an investment question: is real estate the best investment of your money? It depends on the housing market, the rental market, and the individual situation of the rental, location, tenant, financing, closing costs, broker fees etc.
Well, in the real world, if your salary and credit allows you to borrow X, then you should look at what you can invest it in. If you had rented since 2012 and invested all that money into Bitcoin or a stock index, you’d be able to sell it and buy 1,000 houses. So yes, renting could be far better than buying.