&gt;You don&#x27;t really own it until it&#x27;s paid off.<p>You do but obviously you can be foreclosed on if you stop making your payments. (And, of course, even after your mortgage is paid off you still need to pay taxes, insurance, upkeep, etc.--although those will usually be a lot less.<p>My basic point though was that you can easily lose the lease on a rental property even if you&#x27;ve religiously made your lease payments every month. Or the lease can be increased significantly if you live in an area where real estate prices are rapidly increasing.<p>It&#x27;s ultimately about predictability&#x2F;control vs. mobility. IMO, some variant of that tradeoff is what potential buyers should really focus on.