TFA mentions the other costs that you're (potentially) not including: property taxes, maintainance, building insurance (depending on your escrow situation).
I think MB's point is that there's a lot of talk about how "investing" in home ownership is a smart financial move, and that a more careful consideration of this suggests that it's not so clear that this is true.
There are definitely other reasons to own, if you're of the right inclination (I certainly am).
I'm also a new homeowner, and my mortgage + property taxes + insurance + utilities are about 2/3rds of what I was paying for rent last year. Will ongoing maintenance on my home eat up the $400 a month I'm saving? I guess that's possible... but even if it did, I'm still breaking even, and I own my own home.
That's particular to the area I live in, though, where the rental market is extremely tight in comparison to the buying market. In my particular case, the article's advice about "what else you could do with the money" is moot. The rental market here exists for people who need transient housing, or who's financial situations makes a loan difficult to get.
I think MB's point is that there's a lot of talk about how "investing" in home ownership is a smart financial move, and that a more careful consideration of this suggests that it's not so clear that this is true.
There are definitely other reasons to own, if you're of the right inclination (I certainly am).