> I never understood buying things that I can't afford. For most things, that's a wise philosophy. Going into debt for something that depreciates like cars or

> I never understood buying things that I can't afford. For most things, that's a wise philosophy. Going into debt for something that depreciates like cars or furniture or electronics, is not wise. Housing is different though for several reasons. One is that you must live somewhere. So (unless being homeless in an option) you have to pay for housing one way or the other. So you either buy (build equity) or rent (a pure expense). Another reason is that a house may (often does) appreciate in value so you're leveraging that debt to make money. Even if it depreciates, it hardly ever depreciates faster than paying rent. Another reason is that rents always go up, a mortgage locks in your cost for the next 30 years.