Buying a house vs. Renting

[Jeremy]

I bought my house at the top of the real estate bubble in 2006 and since then it's lost over $120k in value courtesy of the same floorplan on my street foreclosing last summer. I wrote a check for over $100k when I bought the house........poof, it's gone. So pretty much over the last 5 years I have consistently lost equity and value each and every month. Luckily it probably can't go down that much more. Likewise I like my house and neighborhood and have no ambition to move, so it doesn't bother me too much.

Everyone will say buy and put down as much money as you can. Up until the real estate crash here, that was pretty sound advice. Anymore though I'm not so sure. If I had to move, I would be happy renting a nice house versus buying at this point. Like someone else said though, every market is different.

Owning a home used to be one of the best investments you could have....I still think investing in yourself or business is a better investment myself.

If you do decide to buy, try to get something that you feel has the least chance of losing value. It's definitely a buyers market right now!

[KevinMcC]

Thanks for the replies guys... will have to think it out and talk to some more people.