[tmo24]

Times have changed. A house in today's environment may not be your wisest choice. It's kind of like leasing vs buying a car. At the end of your 3 years, you basically rented a car. Same with a house, but it's typically a year lease. Now, at the end of buying a car in 5 years, you may or may not have equity in it. Same with a house. The difference is that you might end up losing $100k in a house vs a few grand in a car. This is obviously if you plan on moving and selling the house. If you plan on staying forever, then you will probably have equity. But if you want to move, you better hope you have equity when you sell or you are screwed. With a car, if you plan to sell, you may lose a few grand. Not the end of the world. Buying a home right out of college may be a worse decision than buying a car. If you end up not being able to afford the house for some reason, you destroy your credit and ability to buy again for a few years. If you end up not being able to afford the car, you can sell it for a small loss or try to have someone take over payments etc.