Originally Posted by LONDON2012

As far as house or save up money, in general, I think it depends on rent prices. We bought a house at 4.25% interest, but everything combined mortgage insurance, prop tax, house insurance, loan, it all comes out to $75 a month more than what we were paying in rent for a two bedroom one bath apartment. We bought what most people consider a starter home: 1600 sqft, 4 bed, 2 bath. We plan on living in it until retirement though. We don't have a very good emergency fund saved, but with the costs of renting and owning being similar, we felt that it made sense to buy at this time.

I guess all that to say that I think buying a house can still make sense in this environment. Also the Fed is going to keep interest rates low for the next 2 years, and obviously the inventory is huge, so I don't think there is any rush. Buy if you have a long-term plan and can visualize how owning a home will help meet your certain long-term life goals.