Investing in a home is necessary. A home is one of your basic needs in the society. Once economic 'recovery' finally is underway (capitalist economies constantly react to circumstances, thus are dynamic not static, and can't technically recover because there is no true status quo) the first thing that's going to happen is that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates. If you're looking for mortgages or large loans of any kind, get it now before the federal funds rate gets raised, which is going to affect all credit markets. There will also be an increase in the cost of goods and services – everything from oil, breakfast cereal to payday loans. The rise in rates might be negligible, but it will happen.