Finally thought of a case where renting makes sense

So, I've been really down on these recommendations I've been seeing promoting renting over owning. And I finally thought of a practical case. Though, there is a roughly mortgage sized caveat in the problem.

If you have a stable investment income.

I will say, this seems at least somewhat unlikely for most people. Especially those considering renting as an "affordable alternative".

As I've argued before, most of the supposed pros of renting aren't really all that much of a pro, and don't really address the underlying issues. For instance, being forced to relocate due to cost. This would likely mean one of 3 things; change/loss of job, rent raised, mortgage renewed at higher interest rate.

In most scenarios above the mortgage owner comes out on top, or the same.

But, if you have, say, a mortgage sized amount of money. Say, 200k-500k. Then, invested in roughly 5% yielding dividend stocks can get you a return on that money large enough to cover all or most of your rent alone. 

As I said though, this is a mortgage sized amount of money. The easiest way to acquire it would be to buy a house, build up equity, and especially if the house appreciates, sell it and switch to renting. If you had this much money to begin with you probably weren't as worried which option was financially better in the first place. And, I would add, if you have enough equity and value in the house, you could always just downsize, take on a smaller mortgage, and use the proceed to pay that instead and begin the cycle all over again. 

If you still had the income which allowed you to buy the original house, then you could pay down the second mortgage even faster. A positive feedback loop of wealth generation.