I think your original post said $4k tax savings and $4k/mo mortgage. I rounded yearly mortgage to $50k and came up w/ 8%… 4k/50k=8%. …. whether your tax savings is 4k or 12k, you’re still not making up for the additional $32k outflow. the only way to justify the purchase, if you’re looking at it as an investment, is to expect some kind of appreciation. Many people don’t expect any appreciation in the SD RE market for years to come.
At some point, buying will make sense again for the common folk. I’m w/ the piggies in thinking that it is not yet the right time.