Rent or Buy?

Go out and buy a home. Owning a home you can afford certainly beats paying rent forever. Don't worry about the market going down. The market will go back up. It always does. This is the third time we have seen this cycle since 1980. Get a home you'll love to live in. Fix it up the way you like. If the home is affordable and the payments (loan, insurance, property tax) are not more than 25% higher than your rent, you're at least breaking even. In long run, you will be building equity.