Ya, for those of us lucky enough to have been in a position to buy when the market was down, it’s great. People looking to buy a house today are fucked. We bought our home at the end of 2011. We paid $150k for a ~1250sq.ft. home, on about half an acre of land and the local school district is well rated. It’s a more rural area, with the local economy linked to several area US DoD installations. We refinanced the loan and pulled some money out to re-do the roof and windows and now sit at 3.5% APR. The end result is a monthly mortgage payment of ~$950/month.

Our house now appraises for ~$340k. While some of that movement is likely related to finishing the basement and adding 500sq.ft. of living space and an extra bathroom, most of it has just been market movement. Given today’s interest rates, payments would be north of $2000/month. While we could probably make that work, it would make saving any money difficult.

Given current conditions, I think the article is right. Rent for now and hope the housing market corrects.