I disagree to your disagreement (is this possible? :-). I do think people should run their personal finances like a business. But that doesn’t mean skimping on pleasures or being cheap. Quite the contrary. Consumption is consumption, and it costs money to have a good life. Perry’s example is actually very good: if it costs substantially less money to rent than to buy the SAME house (can’t emphasize SAME strong enough), then one should rent. If you want a car example, I can give you one: I would never buy a $30K car if I could rent the same car from Hertz for $150/month. Of course, car economics dictates that the actual rental rates are much higher, making buying the car the far better deal in real life.
Bottom line: consumption and investment are two different things. Housing is a very odd mix of the two, and one has to be very careful in separating them. That’s why it’s crucial to compare similar houses when making buy-vs-rent (i.e. investment) decisions.
