spdrun, foreigners tend to forget that American real estate comes with HOA and property taxes and generally high maintenance costs when labor is involved.

In most of the world, property taxes and maintenance are insignificant so people just sit on their real estate.

I’d say that taxes in Phoenix and San Diego (the parts w/o Mello Roos) fit that description pretty darn well. Absent HOA fees or bonds, tax rate in Phoenix is under $2 per $100 per year. You can easily get a 3 bdr in a decent area of Phoenix for about $100k, meaning that your taxes would be about $150 per month, assuming no HOA stupidity. About 1/3 to 1/4 of what you’d be paying for mortgage.