All else being equal, a house is too personal a thing for me to rent. It would be like renting a complete set of clothes.

I don’t want to be a real estate developer writ large, but I do want to develop my own space and optimize it for my family as it grows and changes over time.

That's fair. I was mainly trying to push back against the idea that owning a home is always a good investment. There are definitely other major advantages to owning a home.