> People obsess over granite countertops, open floor plans, stainless steel appliances, and walk in closets. These might make you happy but they don’t make you rich.

Money is a means to an end, and being happy is a fine end. I only live once and if I can be happy, well then I've pretty much won. Also you're not going to "get rich" by renting, if (and it's a huge if) you can somehow make renting work in your financial favor compared to buying, it's going to be a tiny bit better. You're not going to 10X your income renting.

He also completely discounts the cost of moving constantly (aka "flexibility"), movers, deposits, furnishings... it's not cheap. Yeah you can move yourself (add in the cost of vehicle to make that happen) but it's going to take time, and time is money.

This is not a well thought out article.

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etrautmann a day ago | parent [-]

That’s absolutely not true. In NYC, I can get rich by investing the difference between a mortgage and my rent, and there’s literally no period over which it makes financial sense to buy. People still buy if coursed but it’s not because it makes them rich (at least in this market with this interest rate).

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jjav a day ago | parent [-]

> I can get rich by investing the difference between a mortgage and my rent

After just a few years into ownership, mortgage becomes cheaper than renting so it is the homeowner who will have extra cash to invest for the rest of their life, not the renter.

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dbish 20 hours ago | parent [-]

Not in New York.

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cramsession 18 hours ago | parent [-]

Rents in New York are notoriously high.

	▲	dbish 14 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Yes and they’re still much lower than buying an equivalent place. I’ve looked. Almost twice as much for a mortgage of a similar space for what I rent right now after putting 20% down. Only reason it makes sense to buy is if you really plan to keep the place for decades.
	▲	const_cast 17 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		That's because real estate is notoriously high. Also, if you're buying in NYC you WILL get recurring and increasing monthly costs. That $800/month HOA? Yeah, it's not gonna be $800 in 5 years. Buying is not the same everywhere.