There's different kinds of debt. Many argue "good" debt is debt spent on assets that appreciate or provide income. However, people often forget that it's not guaranteed (see 2008). Some also only measure net debt (the leftover debt minus asset value).

Some people, especially Dave Ramsey, take anti-debt sentiment way to far. Sometimes you just have to live in the system (and the USA encourages home ownership with subsidized mortgages via freddy and fannie as well as mortgage interest deductibility).

North American society also tends to look down on renting as bad financial move, which can have benefits of making you more highly mobile and it's easier to move (fun fact, Switzerland has a home ownership rate in the 30% range and the Swiss have most of their wealth in other often more liquid assets).

My problem with renting is that it doesn't feel like I truly have a home. I bought an apartment and then a house, because house I can do whatever I want with. Otherwise I would never feel like I was at home or free to do something. I would always be reporting to the apartment owner, house owner.

Now I can just do whatever projects around the house I want.

And also the apartment I bought has appraised 60% - 70% on value within last 6 years, which technically comes up to more than 5x my down payment.

Buying the apartment seems like one of the wisest things I have ever done.

So this is an anecdote, but it seems like it was a no-brainer decision to buy the apartment at those specific interest rates at the time.

Now this real estate is kind of forced leveraged investment on me, and the interest rate is still much lower than I would expect to make in returns.

Yeah, I want to stress I'm not saying people shouldn't ever buy, but it's contingent on the circumstances and it's often overlooked that renting can make practical and financial sense. If you're going to settle down in a desirable area and not move for awhile, the benefits of buying make sense.

But: In most markets, the month-to-month carrying costs of a mortgaged home can be larger than renting (mortgage, property taxes, maintenance, HOA fees, etc). Historically over the long term it can make more financial sense to rent and then invest that delta (though it's contingent on actually doing that and varies by market, etc).

In Canada where I live, a lot of people did what you did, but are now under water in both the carrying costs as well as their home values being less than the purchase price and outstanding mortgage balance as we entered a real estate correction. This means they're stuck and can never move (mortgages in most of Canada are recourse, so the bank can go after you if you walk away). A lot of people also became landlords and bought homes or condos (using the classic anti-renting trope "I'm going to have some sucker tenant pay my mortgage for me"), but are now cash-flow negative with the rents they can bring in, but also can't sell. Enter the softening job market and those people are in trouble. This is before the risk of a bad tenant or sudden maintenance event.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with owning a home or even real estate, but far too many people tie too high a percentage of their wealth into it as a single asset class and they don't understand that there are actual risks. The financial crisis exposed and took advantage of the expectations people have of it.