Ramit Sethi says homeownership isn't essential and people should just do the math on buying versus renting. This basic advice provokes outrage because Americans treat real estate like a religion.
Do you think owning a home is an essential part of that? No, not necessarily. And you would think that a simple phrase, which I encourage people do, is run the numbers on the biggest single purchase of your life would not be controversial. But whenever I suggest that people simply run a very basic calculation to decide whether it makes financial sense to buy versus rent, I get thousands of angry comments accusing me of being a secret landlord, accusing me of being in bed with the landlord, conspiracy, and on and on. In America, real estate is religion, and if you dare to question it, even to simply run a calculation, you enrage millions and millions of people.
