There are two primary advantages of owning your own home:

 1) You can call it your own. That means you can paint, install hardwood floors, build in an entertainment center, or put in closet organizers and mirrored wardrobe doors. You'll also develop your own sense of community, and perhaps a little more space to raise a family.

 2) Financial incentives. Home ownership is a first-rate investment for a number of reasons:

 a. A sure-fire savings plan -- Your mortgage payments serve as a type of scheduled savings plan. Over time, you gradually accumulate equity, as your home appreciates, and you can convert that equity into tax-free cash when you refinance. Or, you can convert that equity into a down payment for your next, better home. (RENTERS: You will continue to pay rent to your landlord with no equity, no appreciation, and no opportunty to cash-out or apply your equity towards a downpayment. The only savings plan you'll have is what comes out of your earnings.)

 b. Stable housing costs -- Your mortgage payment will stay the same throughout the entire time you live in your home, regardless of inflation. If you take on a $1400/month mortgage payment right now, it will still be a $1400 payment ten years from now. (RENTERS: Your rent will keep increasing, year after year. If you're paying $1400/month right now, your rent will cost you over $2500/month ten years from now.)

 c. Increased value -- Your home will increase in value, or "appreciate" over time. Some markets are "cyclical", meaning they experience high appreciation in up markets, and no appreciation in down markets. But over time, real estate in ANY market will typically double in value every 10-12 years. (RENTERS: You will never experience appreciation, and if you pay $16,800 a year for rent, in 10 years you willl have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you would have owned, you would have doubled your value in 10-12 years.)

 d. Tax benefits -- Homeowners get a significant tax break, several hundred dollars per month on an average condo, because your interest and property taxes are deductible. (RENTERS: You will experience no tax break on rent. And if you buy, after about 6 years, your fixed payments could be lower than your appreciating rent. On top of that, the tax savings after just 3 years could bring the mortgage payment below the current rental payment -- see chart below.)