A Suze Orman exclusive

Now that I have walked you through all the issues to consider, I want to put everything in perspective: homeownership is a great achievement and a terrific investment. My message is simply to make sure you can afford it before you take the plunge. Once you determine you have the ability to cover all your housing costs, I say to go for it.

In most markets, homes appreciate at about 4 percent a year. Let's say you buy a home for $200,000 and put 10 percent down. That's a $20,000 outlay. If your house appreciates 4 percent, that's a gain of $8,000. So you just made $8,000 on a cash outlay of $20,000; that's a terrific 40 percent return on your investment. And on top of that there's the tax write-off for your mortgage interest and property tax. As I said before, I don't think there's a better investment out there, and we haven't even factored in the priceless emotional gain you get from owning your own home.

When You Leap Into Home Ownership Make Sure You Know You Will Land with Your Feet On the Ground
A long time ago I learned a great piece of wisdom: The hardest thing to do in life is to jump a chasm in two leaps. My message to you is that before you take the leap from being a renter to an owner, please make sure your financial house is in order. Once you determine you can truly afford to be an owner, then you are ready to go and take the leap into homeownership. You've done your homework, which means it is highly unlikely you will ever regret making this big financial move.