The money you spend for housing is your largest expenditure.  Why rent when you can own for the same monthly payment?

Right now you're giving your landlord a huge tax break and paying off their mortgage in the process !

1.    Take a minute to figure out how much you pay each month in rent.

2.    Now take your monthly rent "times" 12 months
            Ex:  $1,200 x 12months = $14,400 Per Year

3.    Even if you've only been renting for the past 3 years, you have spent $43,200 of your hard-earned money and have nothing to show for it.

If you're going to write the check each month anyhow, why not "Fire Your Landlord" and invest in owning a home.  Not only will your payment go towards paying off your loan but you will receive a huge tax break as a homeowner.

Example:    $120,000 Sales Price

$ 773.96    Per Month Principal And Interest
$ 91.66      Per Month For RE Taxes 
$ 50.00      Mortgage Insurance

$ 915.62    Total Monthly Payment          

Although you pay this amount each month, you will be deducting the portion of your payment spent on real estate taxes and mortgage interest when you do your taxes.

Assuming you are in the "28%" tax bracket:

You will get back $ 2,364.32 when you do your taxes
That works out to $ 197 a month you will get back

Your after tax payment for your home is only $ 718.62

Lets continue with the same example.  After living in the home for 10 years, your loan balance should be down to $ 101,788.  Lets assume that in 10 years your home is worth $ 140,000.

*   In this example, you have now accumulated almost $40,000 in equity in your home as opposed to losing $102,000 if you had continued to rent for the same 10 years.

65% of all Americans are homeowners!  The other 35% have the perception that buying a home requires a large down payment and perfect credit.  This is not true!