The truth is, the financial bonanza doesn't always happen. Buy a house and you can deduct the mortgage interest from your taxes while you build up equity, they say. That's true, but not the whole story. Since almost all of the monthly payments in the first 10 years of a mortgage go for interest instead of principal, some home owners figure they're effectively renting from the bank. All this is not to say that buying a house is a bad idea.
Many people get psychic satisfaction from owning.
You can sand the floors, paint and wallpaper, put in granite counters and built-in bookshelves and add an addition to a house you own. Your mortgage payment will remain the same unless you have an adjustable loan or refinance to get cash out of the house. And the home may well increase in value, especially if you stay in it a long time. But don't be blind to the substantial and continuous expenses of home ownership.