Originally Posted by FRpilot

not directed at you dave, but to add...

A lot of people are suggesting to save up and buy a house assuming the OP was already living at home without realizing that not everyone has the luxury of living at home for free, free food, bills paid for you, and saving all your spare cash. if you're young and on your own you are probably forced to rent in certain areas of california.

California is an expensive place to live in and the cost of a house is not like other parts of the US where you can get a house for $150,000. i know this for a fact in Silicon Valley and I'm assuming anywhere near LA or Hollywood isn't cheap either. in SF Bay Area, half a million dollars gets you a 2/2 condo and a nice house cost anywhere from $750,000 to $1M. to come up with just the MINIMUM 20% down payment on a half a million condo is $100,000 cash! who has that saved up after paying regular living expenses? it could take years or decade or more to save that amount of cash without the help from family and friends.

the debate between renting and buying is a whole other can of worms and depends on one's situation much like leasing or buying a car. imo, if you plan to start a family and be in the house for 20 to 30 years, then I would say go for it if you have the money saved. if you are paying the same or even a little bit less in rent, then you should probably stick to renting but if you pay about the same than the total cost of home ownership, THEN you should probably buy IF you have the cash. People tend to forget the true cost of home ownership and think you only have to pay the mortgage. there are many other cost of home ownership to consider such as home insurance, property taxes, maintenance and major repairs eventually, HOA fees, etc. and it all adds up.