[javanix]

Absurdly high taxes (my parents pay half my tax on a non-rural property twice as big about 120 miles north of me), but still, owning a home is hardly a fiscally ruinous proposition around here.

My property taxes this year were ~$4200 on an average sized lot and home, or roughly $350/month.

My last apartment cost $1050/month for a small two bedroom condo rental.

[jandrese]

This is similar to my situation. Renting a crappy 2BR apartment was $1700/month thanks to the tight rental market. Mortgage and taxes on a townhouse in a nicer part of town? $1200/month. And theoretically after 30 years I would have an asset I could sell, unlike the renters. Renting just didn't make sense unless you're highly itinerant and don't stick around any one area for more than a year or two.

[restalis]

"Renting a crappy 2BR apartment was $1700/month thanks to the tight rental market. Mortgage and taxes on a townhouse in a nicer part of town? $1200/month."

So you take a mortgage and you're happy and there is a chance that you'll stay happy because your present reckoning may remain as good in the future as it is now. But it also may not. By mortgaging you become a sitting duck against the change, and that rental business of $1700/month seems attractive enough to invite further involvement and development thus driving the prices much lower not only compared to its current figure but also with the praised rental figure. What would you do then if this happens? Refinance in order to stretch that mortgage for more than 30 years?

[schrodinger]

What if you had rented and invested that 500/month (and the maintenance costs you had to pay along the way) in index funds?

[jandrese]

Uh, I was paying $500 more per month to rent than to own. Most people I know around here who bought a house saw their monthly payment go down.

Also, it seems a bit odd to hedge against downturns in the housing market by investing in the stock market. The latter is far more volatile.