[laughing_man]

Lying to myself in what way?

If you read up a bit you'll see I'm talking about single people, for whom that is the normal progression, at least, here in the US. You rent an apartment and save your money until you can buy a house. In the US the vast majority of houses have at least three bedrooms, which is two more than you need as a single person, but if you buy something smaller you'll have trouble selling it. So you buy the three bedroom place, you fill one room with junk and make the other into a guest bedroom.

The point was you're better off staying in the apartment, financially speaking, if you take the extra money that would have gone to a house payment and invest it.