Should you rent or buy?

[Ted Harris]

That's what this CNNMoney article attempts to help you figure you .... in fact, Trulia is launching a rent vs buy index for 50 major cities. Always a lot of variables to consider so maybe an index could help some including investors.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/03/real_estate/rent_vs_buy/index.htm

[Rich Weese]

NC- Here are some thoughts on that free and clear house. I want my residence to be MORTGAGED TO THE HILT. Before you yell at me, here is why. I receive all that interest deduction on a personal residence, which helps me save a few thousand in taxes.
NOW, I go use all that cash to buy a much smaller, cheaper home for cash. I use the rest of the cash to buy more owner financed properties with little down. I just generated new writeoff from the depreciation on all the new properties I bought. I now have saved thousands more in taxes.
I still have a F&C home if all hell breaks loose to move into , if the world statrs falling apart, etc.
Until that time I'm creating more wealth from all the homes I bought. Tenants are paying off my loans , I may be gaining paper value due to inflation, and I definitely put myself in a better position to eliminate income taxes. To benefit to the max,qualify as a realtor or "in the business" to make this system work in a way that it is on steroids!
Very important!!
Make sure you keep F&C home in separate entity, not cross contaminated with highly leveraged properties, and CONSULT TAX ADVISOR AND REAL ESTATE ATTORNEY. I'm neither. If you don't pay income tax and plan to never earn enuff to pay the taxes, have no interest in turbo charging your investment program, then disregard this entire post.

Kevin- according to a recent article, in 2011, it is projected that 48% of homes will be underwater. This means more owed than house is valued at. Since people normally put something down, it is easy to see that the majority of owners would have that same feeling as those seeing prices worth less in the 80"s as you said. The majority already have seen their values go down tremendously and more falling every month into that category. Rich