You simply cannot compare an apartment to a house unless you conveniently ignore the very real differences. You can say: "I don't
[WS:] So where does it say that NYT calculator does not apply to condos or coops? Do you pay for them different $250k than that stipulated by the NYT calculator? Like orangebacks instead of greenbacks?
What I demonstrated is that
1. If you pay a certain amount of money for a rental real estate and a certain amount of money for a title to another piece of real estate - you are better off to rent than to buy. That changes only if the amounts involved change, not whether the units in question have or do not have a backyard or any other amenities.
2. It is possible in this country to pay the specified amount for a rental unit, if one makes certain legal arrangements, like forming a housing corporation on a cooperative basis (also called non-stock corporations.) Such corporations have been formed in various places in the US, and serve their members quite well. There is no reason to believe that they cannot be formed in any other US locality, if there are willing participants.
3. From that it follows that under certain and very real and attainable conditions, it is possible for an average US-ers (US-wegians?) - not just me as you claim - to make an arrangement that renting costs less in the long term than buying. All that is takes is some cooperation among individuals. QED
I can also add that I live in a row house with a basement and a yard that is not very much different than thousands of Baltimore row houses. You can verify that yourself by going to Google Earth, entering the address 15 N. Broadway, Baltimore, MD putting the pointer at the following coordinates 39*17'31.42" and N 76*35'36.46" (the center of the roof of my unit) and then compare it to other properties in that neighborhood that currently go for about $250-$350k. There is only one difference, mine is owned cooperatively rather than individually, and by that virtue alone my right to stay in that house indefinitely cost me about a third of what it would cost me to buy a comparable piece of real estate.
Wojtek