I have thought about this a lot.
For me, there are two main advantages to renting:
(1) If I was renting, I could just pick up and move to another location for a while and see if I liked it any better. I could do this immediately, on the spur of the moment, and that would be pretty cool. If someone likes travel, the ability to "lock and leave" would be another advantage.
(2) Also there would be no gardening or other exterior maintenance required.
The disadvantages of renting (for me) would be:
(1) possibly rising rent
(2) having to deal with possible noise from neighbors
(3) any restrictions on customization of one's living space, and
(4) a loss of the feeling of permanence that one gets with an owned, paid off home.
One reason I keep thinking about renting is that I can tell that I won't want to be weeding and cutting back overgrown bushes after a certain age and that age is coming up fast. I guess I should ask around about landscaping companies that could take over this type of chore for me. I am becoming a slacker when it comes to this sort of thing. I have someone to mow, but he won't do my weeding and bushes.
I do not like the idea of dealing with an HOA with an owned condo although a condo would rid me of the gardening responsibilities.
Actually, I suspect that the ideal residence for me would be a single family house with a completely paved front and back yard, but doing that to my present home would ruin resale and aggravate the neighbors.