[soko]

Even if prices don't drop much further, now is a good time to wait and see. Right now you can rent a place much cheaper without any of the risk involved. All the fundamentals are there that even if housing doesn't fall, it sure isn't going to go up any time soon.

If you took out a $250,000 mortgage fixed for 30 years at 7% interest you would be paying $1,600 per month.

For the first year you will be paying about $1,400 in interest from that loan building a measly $200 in equity per month. It won't be 10 years before you're still flushing $1,200 per month down the drain in interest alone.

Not to mention if your house depreciates at all you not only lose your interest payments your equity would be evaporating faster than you're putting it in.

Right now you can rent a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house for around $1,300 a month, You could find a 2 bedroom apartment for less than $1,000. If you rented for 1-2 years you could easily put the $300-$700 month you save in a good interest earning place for a few years when the market is in less turmoil.

Sure it's a good time to buy now. The chances are very high it will be a BETTER time to buy in the coming months so it's an EVEN BETTER time to rent now.