I agree with your sentiment, no doubt we would all prefer to live the idealistic life where home ownership is not an investment to worry about. The #1 advantage in home ownership (any maybe only avantage today) is stability in my opinion, and that is worth something.
But unfortunatley times have changed, especially here. I guaranteed you that people who own their homes fee and clear are the excpetion in San Diego (would like to see the statistic too). And again, people living in the same house for 30 years? There may be a lot of old timers who have been in the same place for 30+ but their number are dwindling.
