Florida homeowner for 18 years. No mortgage for much of it. I'd still rather rent. Let's count the ways.
1. Property taxes. We have no state income tax. The reason we don't is that wages are so low. So Florida hammers those with property. Good business model for the state, bad for those of us with real estate.
2. Homeowners insurance. In the 20 years I've lived in the Tampa Bay area, we've had no hurricane within 120 miles of here. We've had major hurricanes in NJ, LA and elsewhere and tropical storms have hit much of the East Coast and done far more damage than Tampa, which hasn't taken a direct hit in 100 years. But our property insurance is insane because of Hurricane Andrew -which hit 300 miles away 25 years ago --- and four 2004 hurricanes that did not come within 120 miles.
3. Maintenance. As others mentioned, you don't own a home. A home owns you. It owns your time. Time spent finding the contractors to fix all of the stuff and time you spend, to say nothing of money. Here in Florida you can take the average life expectancy of any house item -- roof, HVAC, appliances, paint jobs -- and cut it in half because of the sun, humidity, wind, and salt. This is all true whether you've paid off your mortgage or not.
4. There's a reason so many lower income people come to Florida. If you're willing to rent a trailer, forego auto insurance (many do; it's not required), and live on whatever government subsidies and cash paying work you're willing to do, you can lay around most of the day in our wonderful weather. Unfortunately, that makes things more expensive for the rest of us, especially those who own homes.