The monthly cost of purchasing a home using conventional financing (20% down, fixed rate 30 year mortgage) should be roughly equivalent to (or slightly less than) the rent for a comparable property, after adjusting for tax deductions and maintenance expenses. This was the rule for home purchases for a long time and has only recently fallen out of fashion. Most of us here believe that this criteria will again become the norm in the near future — if it doesn’t we will happily rent properties since it’s cheaper.
Basically if you understand junior high arithmetic, “the fundamentals” are easy to figure out. Of course that rules out about 90% of the US population.
