Renting vs. Buying a Home - The Strange Evolution and Prospect of Owning the Earth 

Phenomenal job as always. This is a criminally underrated channel.

Dude if you ever lack the motivation to continue to create, come back to this comment. We will always be here to watch. Thank you for all the effort.

As someone who made it to 50yo before buying my first home I was smiling during the "popular arguments" and "I'll fix it up" segments...I can't tell you how many times I have had debates, quasi arguments, and just plain lectures on how crazy I have been for not buying a home...back then I would just nod and smile. Of course - when my wife and I had finally found professional happiness and being where we wanted to be geographically (as this was always the plan) we bought a home and wouldn't you know it were immediately asked what upgrades we would be doing (Christmas and birthdays are Home Depot gift cards now) and boy oh boy - don't those conversations about resale start popping up?!? Crazy sometimes how predictable things (we) can be... Found this video catching up on football scores and updates (watched your NFL Draft Video - excellent by the way) and thought I'd check out the channel. Was really happy you weren't some BlackRock feed or trying to quietly push a narrative, or sell me something...honestly your video actually reminded me of how RU-vid used to be, or better yet, should be. I have already forwarded the NFL Draft video to a few friends and have subscribed. "Oddly as I think about this the project that I got the most fulfillment out of ...happened to be this stupid garage floor." Ain't that the truth... All the best!

I don’t think I have ever commented on a YT video before but when the quality is incredible, the editing is incredible, the storytelling is incredible, you just have to. Love the economic perspective on a lot of different topics as well. Really quite impressive.

As a lecturer myself, I love the way how you easy down complicated math, while also giving enough data to be believable (and verifiable) so that everyone can follow, no matter the level of education. And all that, while keeping a cozy and calm, very personal feeling within the videos, so I feel like watching an old friend, explaining me something he/she just stumbled across. Very good work!

Just found this channel via the NFL draft video, and I’m blown away. The only comparison I can think of for just how good your content is, is when I saw VSauce for the first time a decade ago. Keep up the good work brother, you’ll be at a million subscribers by 12 months from now if you keep this up (and with a little help from the Algorithm 😉)

Incredible content, glad to be a sub before this channel blows up! Keep up the phenomenal work, very inspiring to see such a beautiful body of work as a new content creator trying to figure out the game myself! Thank you for setting the bar high 💯

The level of insight and analysis is beyond amazing. Wonderful job. I couldn't believe it just had a few thumbs up. This channel will blow up my friend.

I watched most of the videos you gave on your channel (about 8 at the time of writing it) and I am SHOCKED that you don’t have more subscribers. The thought and time you put into your videos is amazing. It’s rare that you get to watch something so entertaining and feel like you’re learning a thing or two. Please keep making more videos, especially the sports one. I’ll be staying tuned. Thanks!

Great video. I live in an area near a military base, with a very transient population. My wife and I never intended to live here forever, and we were priced out of the rental market. We could only afford to buy here funny enough. Post pandemic, the housing market has caught up, and we wouldn’t have been able to buy had we waited two more years. It’s crazy how much timing and location plays into it. As far as happiness, gardening is the hobby that brings me the most happiness; however, we moved into a fixer upper, so most of my time has been spent working on the house instead of gardening. I can say I am much less emotionally happy with two times the space and a yard, only because I have to constantly work on things and look at things that I have to pay to fix. If I moved into a turnkey house, I’m sure I’d be happier and could work in my garden, but having the maintenance without the enjoyment is rough.

You’re an incredible storyteller Michael. I’ve watched a bunch of your NBA videos (all incredible), but this one was really special, and came to me at just the right time in my life. Keep going, you’ve got a lot of true fans. 👊

youve literally become my favorite youtube channel in 1 day. keep it up man! you can really tell a story in detail that is easy to understand.

I rarely comment on RU-vid but wanted to say what an incredible storyteller you are. Keep it up man.

I'm so happy to have found this channel. I really appreciated the inclusion of your grandparents' story. It's clear they did not see the size of their estate as their life's fulfillment.

This content is incredible. You’re gonna get a million subs within the year, this quality is absolutely top tear. Bravo

This is incredible, love the video. Well made, very great explanations and visualization. I was extremely surprised by the view count. You deserve like 100 times more, minimum

Really informative, fun, and beautiful. Loved the anecdotes about your family sprinkled in

Can proudly say I was here before 10k subscribers, catch me commenting this in the future when you have 10 mil

Commenting now to prove I followed back when you had 11k subs. The rocket is gonna take off soon with this channel. Love the personal content intertwined with the research. 🚀

Your message and direction got lost in the sauce a bit.. a little too much meandering in your videos. But otherwise you're obviously going to be huge if you keep this quality up. Your editing skills are top notch and you seem to really care about the content. Subbed & awaiting more in the future!

The quality of these videos is insane. I stumbled upon ur channel and now I have ended up watching three videos in a row already. Great job

Dude, you’re videos are next level! Take pride in what you have created

Wow. I did not expect to tear up at the end of this video about renting vs buying. You are an absolutely magnificent content creator Michael. You have such an eloquent, concise and poetic way of breaking down analytical concepts that to many would be otherwise inaccessible or too dry. Your lovely deep voice and laid back sense of humor are cherries on top of this content, which should be a model for all other content creators. 🙏🙏🙏😊

This is one of the best videos I’ve seen in a long, long time. I loved the statistics, and story and just wanted you to know how much it was thoroughly enjoyed.

This channel is going to blow up and all your hard work is going to be worth it

Dude you're awesome! Love the analysis and the deep touch on history/family. Big fan

Your sports videos captivated me, now i am here watching the rest of your videos! Amazing job! Keep it up and 1M subs is around the corner 💪

Your work deserves to blow up like the buying market. Love it all!!!

Your content is some of the best I have ever seen before, top end quality with very interesting topics for each video. You are going that extra mile and answering questions that are so unique yet also so important. I can only imagine how much time goes into making these videos, but one thing is for sure, you need to keep uploading content like this because it will pay off and before you know it your following will absolutely skyrocket. I appreciate what your doing, keep up the amazing work.

Man you make such powerful content from owning a home to NFL drafting to basketball -- really happy the algorithm sent me here

Spectacular content. Incredibly and soulfully well presented 🙏🏼

Keep making videos like this with this production Value and you’ll get mad views in no time.

Love your videos man. Watched the draft video and thought “oh cool a new football channel, let’s see what other nfl insights he’s got” haha. Was pleasantly surprised to see the variety of content. Excited to see what you got coming up in the future. This one was excellent and also (most importantly) made me feel better about still renting.

this channel is awesome, great job on the video. i love the way you look at stats and break down the math

This Channel is incredible. Keep going!

Please please please keep the content coming. It’s only a matter of time until you’re on the trending page right next to Johnny Harris - you’re a beast

Amazing content, sir. I wish you the best of luck!

This is some top quality content. Hope you get the exposure you deserve. Quite underrated. Keep it up! 💪

Wow...how do you not have a million subs? Beautiful video

Wow, incredible content my man. An important reminder about what’s really important in life. Art and Jane would be proud 🙏

Great video! I saw your "The World is Teaching America How to Play Basketball " and checked out your channel, which was definitely worth it. Although I agree with your that home ownership is not the answer and will not bring happiness, I miss 2 topic, for which I would be happy to hear your opinion: 1. Security/safety - have a home, although you do not own it in the first 30 year, is an asset that gives some kind of security. Even if you have to sell the house before it's paid off, you would still have some of the money back. With renting, they're just inevitably and irreversibly lost. Buying a house "forces" many people to "invest" in it, because lets be honest, a minority of the people which rent won't save or invest their money in any other way, and will spend it for useless things, and when they get old, they won't have some money to rely on. And as we know, of the main rules of financial (and literal physical) freedom is money. A big part of what shows our value as a person is money - how you're dressed, where you live, what car do you drive, what do you eat, what hobbies do you have, etc. I hate it, don't get me wrong, but the amount of times I see money being a huge part of our identity and life, I cannot disregard it like that. And rent does not give you security - neither does ownership, but renting is way worse. 2. Mortgage to price ratio causes - I'm sure you're aware the reason for this increase is caused by companies with a looot of money buying out properties and then renting, just so they can invest their money, and afford to offer a lucrative rent. We all read the stories of Chinese companies laundering money by buying properties in Canada, which is one of the reason for their housing crisis.

Man, I beg you to optimize the thumbnail/title so that this video gets as many views as some of your others (currently 14k). I loved the NBA and NFL videos, but this really was a masterpiece that touched my heart. More people deserve to experience this! You've got such a rare breadth of aptitudes: analytics, creative production, story telling, empathy, and more--I'm sure all of which have come with much effort, setbacks, and dedication... but you've also got some natural, God-given abilities. Much love brother. I hope you enjoy a full and satisfying life, no matter what challenges and opportunities come your way! And may you continue to use your talents to change the world as we know it!

One of the best chanels on YT.

This channel is gonna blow up. Mark my words

I have loved your videos , your editing style is something I wish I could do. If you have tips on how I can learn this style I'd appreciate. Keep up the good work

10/10 - wish I could subscribe more than once. I love the range of video subjects!

I almost never comment on youtube vidoes but this was amazing. absolutely top tier content. thank you and keep up the good work

Your NBA content is how I found your channel, but i hope you keep it up with this type of stuff

Man, I was gonna use this video as background noise while working... and I got totally hooked and couldn't get shit done, great channel!

What a video. Just phenomenal, thank you

Love the story arc and personal touch on this one!

Dude, this channel is awesome

How does this video only have 7k views? Honestly criminal it doesn't have more

Just discovered your channel today. Loving all the different areas you are showing data for. Go Cougs!

We are all renters on this planet with the time we are given.

what a great video. Thank you so much

Insane effort into these videos

Here before he hits 1 million, the best content on youTube without a doubt.

Nice video! I believe the main financial advantage of buying is the leverage. Even if the capital gain returns don’t look impressive 3-5% gain of 2mil is gonna be better than 10% return on your $200k savings

Interest rates are surely the biggest reason for this jump (on top of the COVID buying madness). If I were to refinance my house at what I paid for it 3 years ago my mortgage would nearly double even if the price of the house was the same. Which kind of leads into a correction I have. At 9:50 you state that someone living in their house for only 15 years isn't deep enough into their amortization schedule to make it worth it. But with cost of money being so high its actually sometimes advisable to refinance 15 years in so you can get back to paying only interest and pull all your principal back out (especially if rates drop while owning). You are much better off paying only interest and being as leveraged as possible when rates are below 4% as that money is going to earn much more than 4% in the stock market. The reason ownership takes awhile to "pay off" is the cost of transacting real estate (realtor fees closing costs etc) is so high, as to realize your gains you'd need to pay nearly 10% of the property price in a buy/sell cycle. It has little to do with loan schedules.

Great video Mac! How much do you think the changes in tax laws has impacted home ownership? With the large standard deduction the benefits of deducting home interest and property taxes is less impactful to the bottom line.

Awesome man....keep making

Wow, this came up in my recommendations, so glad it did!

Why do I wanna cry over a rent or buy vidéo. Terrific job

I love this channel.

These videos are so much better than the amount of views they get.

Hey Michael, Really enjoy your content. I think the channel is very underrated and the quality you put out is insane. Its also very rare to see another yt channel that doesn't really have a niche. I have a podcast and it's absolutely a struggle to get an audience when you invite random guests that interest you. Anyways, just wanted to say, keep up the good work! Ps, your email that you have in your "about" section doesn't seem to work.

Simply a masterpiece

Great video, Mac! Loved the personal touch. If/when I do buy a home, it will be a tiny one. Btw, where’d the college videos go?

amazing video

Your exploration of problems we can see but can not articulate is unrivaled

great vid 👌

I have been saying for a long time that if it wasn't for the government writing blank checks in education, college wouldn't be so expensive. You should do a video on it.

I was just mesmerized by your oration. 👏🏽 Can you share some tips? On the content itself, I find it difficult to believe that something as straightforward as this finding isn't caught on by the NBA. Teams now have access to advanced video software that generates so many data points with chief data officers on board to study and analyze this data. Is this a correlation vs causation scenario? Are there any other variables at play here? Shorter international camps, perhaps?

Wish these masterpieces got more attention

I just subbed and I can’t get enough

Beautiful grandparents!

I think long term renting will almost always turn out worse than buying predominately due to people being bad a investing the extra money they could through renting and being forced into developing the home equity through buying. HOWEVER, as you pointed out people are staying in place way less often and I think a great many homebuyers are going to be in a terrible situation in the coming years because of how much recency bias in the market has been crammed down their throats. I’ve comment on how its cheaper to rent right now and have people responding “where?” When the answer is most of the country it shows how people really aren’t looking at the actual markets and are stuck in their own little world.

this guy makes banger vids

What you have said is technically correct. However, what I have observed is that property ownership serves as a forced savings plan. Many people reach the end of their working lives with their home as their primary asset. Yes they could have rented and then invested the difference and had a better financial outcome, but few actually do this and, as a result, end up with very little.

This video needs to be seen by more people. Both parents are boomers and I’m 25 in a completely different situation where I’m met with the anecdotes of how home ownership has been extraordinarily beneficial. One thing I would’ve liked your thoughts on is the value of leverage and using your mortgage as a way to unlock the opportunity to get outsized returns. Especially since most people wouldn’t think to trade on leverage in the stock market or access a loan to invest in a business. Great video as always! I found it bc of basketball content, but I’ve been watching through the rest of your other videos. All are excellent

Over 24 hours have passed since this was uploaded and it only has 374 views and 12 comments. Nothing makes sense anymore.

Masterclass on how when an idea is ubiquitous, it’s time to question it. We haven’t bought yet and probably never will, despite being 2 MD’s. It’s super personal, cuz we haven’t found the city/state/country that we want to settle down in. It might never happen. But we almost pulled the trigger cuz we got caught in the excitement and the dreams that society tells you you’re supposed to have. Thank god the house had lead and we had a baby at the time. Freedom of renting seems for us. I jus my feel bad for people we know who bought immediately and are now stuck.

Price-to-rent ratios on the West Coast: 30 to 50 Price-to-rent ratios in the Central US: 10 to 20

As a Canadian, this video doesn't surprise me. Almost every city here has the same discrepancy.

Gotta keep making content!

Deserves a few million views wow

So true. Unless you have enough cash to pay a mortgage off in a decade or so owning just is not worth it anymore. Maintenance and the constant drumbeat of upgrades are insane. Just not worth it.

Built my home in 2020 and locked in a 2.1% 30 year. Government spending got out of control and shows no signs of stopping. I knew it was now or never and was right. Mass inflation has killed everything.

Also, despite the birthrate decreasing, there's no chance of a population decrease. Literal millions stream across the border illegally each year, met my similar numbers of legal immigration.

comparing current market purchase rates (losers) to cheaper rents that locked in lower mortgages years ago (winners). There are discrepancies within the markets - winners and losers - as the market has changed so quickly over the past few years, discrepancies have widened.

Cool

You didn't mention the largest influence on mortgage payments interest rate. My mortgage payment is about 25% less than what rent would cost me. My interest rate is 2.2%. If my interest rate was 6% my guess is my payment would be 25% more than rent would be for an equivalent home. In fact when I refinanced in 2020 my interest went from 5.x% to 2.2, and my payment was cut in half plus I took a little bit of money out.

You should add a "Thanks" option so I could buy you coffee. For this excellent vid + the NBA ones.

Man.. Congrats

10/10

Beautiful vid but honestly I feel even worse about which to pick 😂

Great video to get someone thinking, but I do find this video having a lack of counter-arguments. While the birth rate has slowed, immigration has increased. Also there are a lot of foreign people buying homes in the US and around the world, especially with Chinese people heavily invested in the real estate in China, they've also invested everywhere else. You also didn't dive into how generational wealth is created through owning homes, though there are a lot of factors involved in that discussion as well.

The bass is too high on your videos. It makes hearing your voice difficult. Would be nice to turn up the mids and treble a bit

12 minutes in, but real estate is the only place the avg person uses leverage