As a previous poster put it- You own the mortgage and a tax bill. That is correct; however, with diligence, you will one day only own the tax bill, and let me tell you- when you’re old and haven’t a proper steady income, there’s nothing more important (outside of food money) than having a paid off shelter. Try being under the thumb of a landlord when you’re 65 and start living on a fixed income. Remember that the truths we make for ourselves don’t become visible until much later in life. Keep renting. Keep making someone else’s mortgage payment. At the end of it all, you’ll have nothing but paper money. Real estate has intrinsic value. Paper money has nothing but paper.