After saving $100,000 by age 25 and founding her multi-million dollar business Her First 100K, Tori Dunlap has made enough money to afford a home in Seattle, where she lives.

Even so, she has stuck to renting.

"One of the best financial decisions I ever made was not buying property," the 29-year-old tells CNBC Make It. Renting "gets a bad rap," she says.

That said, the author of the New York Times bestseller "Financial Feminist" almost bought a home in Seattle in her early 20s.

She assumed buying was the "right" thing to do, following the influence of her "well-meaning parents" who said renting was "throwing money down the drain," compared with homeownership.

"I was actually a day from closing on a condominium" near Seattle, says Dunlap. "If I would have done that, my life would be very different: I'd be living an hour outside of the city, I wouldn't have made friends in the same way."

Ultimately, she asked herself, "Do you really want to buy a house?" and decided against it.

"I was 22 and trying to figure out my career and what my life looked like," she says. "I did not have the skills to be able to manage a home, to make repairs on the home."

Today, she's a multi-millionaire who still rents. "That's 100% OK because it's something that makes sense in my life," she says. "I'm single, I don't have kids and I travel a lot. It's nice knowing that I have the flexibility to pick up and move if I want to."

Rather than tying up much of her wealth into a single property, she grows those funds in diversified investments instead.

Renting is the only option for most people, and that's OK

Renting or buying a home has become a false choice for most people, says Dunlap. This is especially true with median home prices rising by nearly 30% since 2020, per U.S. Census data.

"The choice is already made for you—it's renting," she says.

While some people might think that monthly homeownership costs will be cheaper in the long-run compared with renting, that's increasingly untrue in most real estate markets.

For 89% of Americans, renting a two-bedroom home is cheaper than buying a comparable property, according to a recent analysis by The Economist. Three years ago, that was true for only 16% of Americans, the study says.

Plus, there are other recurring homeownership expenses you don't have to pay for as a renter, including private mortgage insurance, property taxes, mortgage interest and the cost of repairs. Not to mention, coming up with enough cash for a down payment.

Dunlap encourages potential buyers to make sure "the math makes sense" before buying a home, including all those extra costs.

Above all else, buying a home is a decision that needs to make sense "not just financially, but emotionally," otherwise it won't be a smart move, says Dunlap. 

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