First, as a direct answer your question, you should always take full advantage of your employer's matching program. This is 100% free money that you are declining to receive if you don't set your 401k contributions high enough.

Retirement Considerations and Facts

• 401ks and Traditional IRAs are tax advantaged accounts, so the money you contribute grows without having been taxed first. This is a huge advantage for your retirement. That means the amount you get to put in to your 401k account is a lot higher than the amount than your paycheck decreases.
• The stock market over a very long term tends to beat out real estate returns, and your investments can be far more diverse. You can even invest in real estate without owning a home, there are plenty of funds that let you invest in all kinds of things.
• You can withdraw $10,000 from a traditional IRA before you're retirement age without penalty to put toward your first house. Whether this is an ideal thing to do financially I still haven't figured out.

Home Ownership Costs

Home ownership consists of the following costs put together:

• Principal, this is the money you put into your mortgage bill that you keep 100%
• Interest, which can amount to tens to hundreds of thousands over the course of 30 years
• Property Taxes, which you must pay forever
• Closing costs, around 6% of your home's value to make the purchase transaction
• Maintenance, including long-term maintenance like furnaces, roofs, air conditioning, water heaters, garden/lawn care, handyman work, etc.
• Insurance
• Mortgage Insurance if you don't have 20% down payment

Rentals consist of all of the above costs except for principal and closing costs, especially if you think about how many landlords own their property outright. In many rental markets, when you do this math it all makes sense. A lot of rentals are cheaper per month than an equivalent home with all the above costs added into the mortgage. But that's not universal.

What that means is that, while renting seems like "throwing your money away," what it actually means is that owning a home incurs many of the same costs as a rental that you will never get back, and only one piece of the pie you put in (principal) stays with you, and you also get to keep the gains from real estate appreciation.

Home Ownership Pros

• You have your own property, and can enjoy full control over it
• Homes generally appreciate in value over time, and you get to keep these gains
• You are forced to save your money in a relatively stable asset that can also house you
• Homes are an advantaged "savings account" in that they often can't be seized as easily as liquid capital due to bankruptcy in many states.
• Homes have a number of tax advantages that renters don't enjoy like the deduction of property taxes. With rentals, you're paying for the property tax indirectly to the landlord.
• A paid off house in retirement can mean very "low rent" living with a very nice space compared to downsizing to whatever apartment you can afford in old age
• Owned homes are typically "nicer." Landlords don't meticulously keep up their properties or add the nicest appliances.

Home Ownership Cons

• You must arrange and pay for maintenance on your own
• You have made an investment in your neighborhood and city, and you may be more exposed to macro-economic forces (e.g. migration out of Detroit) or changes in the fabric of your neighborhood.
• You may give up opportunities to make more money by being less flexible toward moving
• Inflexible toward changes in family size like additional kids, you have to plan ahead for that
• You may be less able to shorten your commute if you change jobs within your city

The Takeaways

• Use tools to know if you are in a rent or buy market, like this New York Times calculator.
• Evaluate whether you actually want to own a home instead of overthinking the financials of it.
• Leverage experienced people to help make this choice. Don't go into a home without an excellent home inspector and realtor on your side.
• Learn the ins and outs of mortgage structures and the math behind amortized loans before rushing into a mortgage agreement.
• Evaluate your career goals and risks and how they line up with your living situation.
• Never buy if you intend to move in the next 5 to 7-ish years.
• Evaluate all the costs put together for each option, not just mortgage check vs. rental check.