Houses don't make particularly good investments. While it's true that you can sometimes come out ahead compared to, say, investing the same amount in the S&P 5

Houses don't make particularly good investments. While it's true that you can sometimes come out ahead compared to, say, investing the same amount in the S&P 500, it's very rare that the S&P will need you to put a new roof on it or spend the better part of every weekend pulling weeds and doing DIY. The S&P will just wait until you ask for your money back, then give you lots more money back than you gave it. Houses make you work for that money. Now, lots of people enjoy DIY as a hobby, so if you're looking to include "maintaining a house" as a new hobby then by all means buy a house. They're also quite pleasant to live in when compared with crappy apartments that are the usual alternative. But only buy a house if you want to own a house. Buying one just because it's a good investment or what you're "supposed to do" will only leave you unhappy and wondering what happened to all your free time. If you don't believe this, pick any one of your homeowner friends and ask them what they did this weekend.