Not too long ago, the tradeoff of renting was that it was cheaper, you didn’t have to care about repairs (in theory) and could take the money you saved to invest.

The rental market is so outrageously out of whack that it is no longer the case. If you don’t own your home, you’re paying for someone else’s mortgage, while not having the benefit of paying less to invest more. And that’s not even broaching the subject of slumlords and overall bad landlords.