buy or rent in the bay area??

[deezy455]

I need a house in the bay area, originally I thought it was of course better to buy a house, cuz renting is "throwing away money". However after researching this, Ive found that some people are saying its better to rent than buy in the bay area, because of the fear of a bubble burst, as well as the fact that the bay area has the lowest rent/buy ratio in the US.
So now Im leaning towards renting for a few years, and use the money id save from the downpayment to invest in mutual funds, does anyone else think this is a good/bad idea?
thanks!