I mean, somebody had to decide to buy the house at some point in time. I would have told them to do it.
> Owning a house in the Midwest is like having an $xyz offer to move to <area with even lower house prices>.
Yes, that is correct. The argument generalizes.
> I don’t believe most people are willing to uproot their lives simply because they can get cheaper housing elsewhere.
If I offer you a million dollars to move, then you're free to turn that down. What you are not free to do is pretend that it's not a real offer that you have that other people don't have. It exists. It's real. And if you own a home in California, then you have that offer. And other people do not. What you choose to do with that offer is up to you.
> What equity? You advocated for putting as little as 5% down. You’re already going to have a higher than average interest rate and with such a small deposit it’ll be easy to tip into negative equity.
The house I bought in 2020 is worth $xxx more today than what I paid for it. Had that not happened, then I'd just live here, either way, and I'd be in no worse position than had I stayed in the apartment I left to move here. (As you yourself argued, I need a roof over my head, anyway.) Since it did happen, I get to keep every bit of the upside, tax free.