On the same token, there are a bunch of renters that are golden because they are not upside down on a house and could take decades to break even. Actually many are mailing in the keys to the mortgage co and becoming renters. Owning is great and renting is great too. There are a ton of variables. Currently, if I was a renter, I would hold off on purchasing, especially if I didn't have 20% down and I had other debt. Oxnard111 is in SoCal (I assume Oxnard from the name) where you are not going to buy a house for $70K, well not yet anyway. Another 20% drop is not unlikely in the coming years. It is not only the sub prime mortgages and interest only mortgages that are foreclosing. Unemployment is affecting many people and that will flood the market in the coming years with more and more foreclosures. Prices have not bottomed by a long shot. Rent, save, pay off debt for a couple of years and you will make the years following that exponentially greater for yourself.
If you don't take my advice and still want to buy now then do not get emotionally attached to a house you look at and possibly make an offer on? There is always and I mean always a better one and a better deal on the next one. If you have a girlfriend or a wife, I would sit her down and talk to her about the purchase being a business decision and not an emotional one. You will do much better going into it that way. Take your time and look and do your research. If you make an offer and don't get it, there will be another one and most likely a better one. There always is. I can guarantee that there always is so that is why I am saying to keep emotion out of it. It took my wife 3 months to realize this and now that I am showing her the houses we didn't get that closed at too high prices and what they are worth now, she finally gets it. There were people offering $30k over asking on some foreclosures we looked at. The banks play games, the real estate agents play games (yours and the sellers) and the lenders play games. I have had numerous calls back months later from houses we made offers on that we didn't get and that were supposedly pending but didn't end up closing escrow. They want to take my original offer and I said no thanks. We have moved on from that house and have found much better and cheaper. I did convince my wife to just wait and she now doesn't even want to move. We have a really nice house in a great neighborhood with lots of equity. Just cause she wants a single story instead of our current 2 story. She was all emotion and even made me make an offer on a house I was not comfortable with. I did it to not cause grief but the next morning she realized it was not the right one. We withdrew our offer right away and that was the turning point for her where she got it. That house ended up selling for $289,000 4 months ago and is now worth $219,000. It sold new in 05 for $475,000.
