Owning a home is sooo much better than renting. I HATE apartments. I remember my first apartment...the fat girl below us would bang on her ceiling (our floor) everytime my wife and I walked or had the TV a little loud. One time at 3am, she was banging because we turned over on our other side on the bed. She was insane.
Renting, especially when you can buy a home with a mortgage that is the same or close to the same amount as the rent, is beyond stupid. Renting only makes the landlord rich. You retire and have nothing to show for it and have to keep on paying rent until the day you die. A home, on the other hand, appreciates over the long run and you can sell it for a nice profit when you retire and exclude the first $500k from capitals gains taxes and buy something cheaper and with the remainder, invest it and live off the interest.
A home also gives you more space, a garage, a yard for the rugrats to play in, an inground pool if you want, and a place you could actually call home, unlike an apartment where you are stacked on top of one another like a pancake.