We rented an apartment on the 30th floor of a Chicago high-rise overlooking Lake Michigan when we were first married and enjoyed the city life while we were young and carefree. No car, no kids, no debt, no worries. It was a grand time in our lives, and we look back on it fondly. At 26/27, we bought a condo after we moved back to Michigan. When we moved to Boston, we again enjoyed city life renting a loft in the Back Back and, later, bought our first house in the 'burbs when we were 31/32. We’ve owned houses ever since, and each has paid off handsomely.
I’ve posted before that the Army bought our son’s first house for him (VA loan, no money down) at 23 and is basically paying it off for him through his Basic Allowance for Housing. Best racket going. He will be 26 next month, getting married in June, and moving to Pittsburgh in August. He has not yet decided if he wants to rent out the GA house while he and his wife enjoy city life (suggestion from mom and dad?) renting downtown for a while. Right now, he has about $125K in equity in the GA house, and his VA loan eligibility will reset when they move to PA, so he is comparing markets to decide if he’s realized the most he can from his current property and it would make sense to plow it into a better market or if keeping the house and its income stream makes more sense long term.
In any case, regardless of all the issues I have with the Army, housing isn’t one of them.