Sure, and that's a big part of the problem--that with the advent of large student debt and stagnant wages (plus untenable inflation in the rental market), no one can afford to save up for a down payment anymore. I'm not arguing that buying is easy; I was just responding to the previous poster's claim that people should be putting the difference between rental and mortgage payments into savings. I'm trying to make the assertion that the difference isn't there, and that this is just one more reason people with less money are buttfucked right now. I think we're on the same side here.
'k. I stand by my statement: even with a down payment, prices are so exuberant right now that it's cheaper to rent even without the externalities. That may not have been true in 2014 but it's been a damn ski jump around here and every market I monitor is chockablock with renters bitching about house prices.