Fair challenge. Those costs are real, but once you run actual numbers they rarely flip the outcome. They also climb more slowly than the objection assumes. In California, Prop 13 holds assessed-value increases to about 2% a year, so property tax barely moves over a decade, and most other states have homestead or similar limits that soften the climb. Insurance rises, but modestly in many years. And the true must-do repairs are fewer than people picture. A water heater eventually fails and gets replaced. Much of what owners spend beyond that is discretionary upgrading, which tends to add resale value rather than vanish. Renting has its own escalator. Rent has historically drifted upward over time, while a fixed-rate mortgage's principal-and-interest payment stays put for the life of the loan. The long-run wealth gap survives the full accounting. The Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances has shown for decades that homeowners hold many times the net worth of renters, with home equity a large share of the difference. None of that guarantees any single home wins over any given stretch. Putting your real rent against a real all-in ownership budget is exactly what we map out on a free Roadmap call.