While I agree that property is always a good long term investment, did they survey people that subscribe to Better Homes? Isn't that like asking people that subscribe to Cat Fancy if owning a cat is a good idea?

Ditto @ DonaldN

That being said, I did buy my first home about 6 months ago and am pleased that my money's now being invested instead of thrown away on rent.

I also Ditto Donald.

It's a great long term investment, but not a good long term solution for investing. The 30 year mortgage is one of the worst financial products that one can tie themselves into. I would suggest that people focus on saving up enough to work out a 10 or 15 year fixed rate mortgage. It's better to invest your extra money in other modes of investments and build up a nest egg to buy your nest a bit further down the road.

I think that although there are many people still hoping to own a home some day, they approach is changing. The idea of buying a "starter home" is kind of ridiculous now since you don't know if you'll be able to sell it when you're ready to upgrade. And if you're like me, you wont even THINK about buying a home until you've decided where you want to live for the next 10+ years. My little brother bought a house when he was 20 and now he has a career he loves... only it's 3 hours away. He can't sell the house, and it's a huge hassle to rent it. I just think more young people are realizing that renting an apartment for a while is an investment in mobility and ease of lifestyle, and know that they can always buy later in life.

Agreed, DONALDN

We need a 'like' button! I totally agree with DonaldN.

We bought a family home and while we bought it for market value, I have to say the interest has been outrageous (yes, 30yr mortgage). We need to be a lot more savvy about this sort of thing, otherwise it feels like an albatross!

Suzeh, there is a like button... just sayin'.

In today's world, I'm not sure that many people expect to stay in a home for long enough to pay off a 30-year mortgage. On the other hand, while stretching out the interest over 30 years is what makes the interest so high, stretching the payments out over 30 years is what makes home ownership tenable for most of the middle class. I'd argue that this loan product (along with college loans) actually help define the American "middle class" as home owners.

I bought a house for $175K with $3K down (FHA first time buyer loan), sold it for $230K 2.5 years ago, and used what I made off the home towards a 20% downpayment on much nicer home that I bought with my new husband. We paid about $98.00 a square foot with a 4.25% ARM that can never increase higher than .5% per year after 5 years, and can never be higher than 9%. We were 80/20 when we got in, and we gambled that within 10 years of payments and modest 2% annual equity once the market normalizes, we'd easily be at 70/30 or better, and still be at no more than 6.5%. This gives us 8 more years to refinance with a fairly comfortable loan while we wait out the slump. We're in our 40s, settled into our careers, and comfortably married to our community.

All of the financial advisors we spoke with agreed that this was a good risk for all the reasons people have noted above. We planned the purchase well, we were able to take advtange of low prices and cheap money, we're middle aged, and we're happy to stay put for ten more years or longer. The end-game is make some money on a sale and use the earnings to pay for our retirement housing (either cash, or put the money in the bank and use it to pay a mortgage and take advatantage of the interest deduction). In other words, we hope to do what every business does: borrow money at a low rate and use it to make a profit that will ensure our future security.