“Anyway, just wanted to dispel the notion that rent is throwing money away. As long as the risk of large-scale depreciation lurks, most buyers would be better off renting, IMHO.”
There is a “third” option.
3.) Move to one of the many areas in the county where the buy-to-rent formula is in strong favor of owners.
It seems to me that since it already makes sense to buy in many areas of the county, the upside to waiting is that you give yourself the possibility of getting into a “better” neighborhood down the road and have the numbers still come out in favor of owning versus renting. There is a gambling component to this and success will require luck and patience.
By the way, the recession has tremendously depressed rents in the area so I’m not sure I would use today’s rent as a good judge of the long term value of a property. When you buy you are “locking” in a (approximately) fixed rental rate for 30 years. Rents could quickly snap back up when the economy recovers especially in the areas where everyone wants to live.
