"you can always go back to renting in 5 years"? You mean sell the house? Fees alone would hammer you pretty hard if the value was flat for 5 years. Selling h

"you can always go back to renting in 5 years"? You mean sell the house? Fees alone would hammer you pretty hard if the value was flat for 5 years. Selling houses costs a LOT of money. Also, you need a 20% downpayment to dodge mortgage insurance, I think. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/buy-rent-calculator.html http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/buy-rent-calcula... That gives a pretty clear picture. The moving parts that matter are interest rate, appreciation of the purchased home, and inflation of rent.