I can link things too. The house you linked was last sold 40 years ago for $126k, so the person who owns it is renting it out for many times more than their mortgage. You might not be able to rent out a place for more than a mortgage today in that specific city, but if you own it for 5 years then you might be able to. Also, 2br 1ba single family houses in San Jose are fucking weird. If you start looking at 3br 2ba houses in that area then it gets a little more normal. If you look at 2br 1ba condos, the prices are also more normal. But you ignored what I said about Silicon Valley being an extreme case.
90% of the country you can buy for less than renting. You asked why anyone would rent when buying is cheaper. And the answer is because buying is hard. You need to have a lot of money saved up, which most renters can’t do. You need to be able to pay for repairs, which most renters can’t do. You need to know you aren’t moving jobs any time soon, which a lot of people don’t know. And nowadays you are bidding against corporations and investors who are bidding full cash, and sellers would prefer to do that instead of waiting on a mortgage approval that might fall through.