Amen!!! Just bought a brand new house in Houston on 1st year pay at XJT. No more paying rent to the man and having nothing to show for it, crappy neighbors and numbnuts parking in my space. One of the fastest ways to build wealth is home ownership so the sooner you can get out of that sh!thole apartment and into something you own, the better.

One thing to consider though - even a $25/hr increase in pay isn't really a LOT of money after tax. It sounds like a lot, say, to make $60k/yr as a CA but in reality it's not when it comes to your pay check.

I hate to say it, but per diem is actually a pretty good deal. Totally tax free. Typically I'll take home 60%-65% of my pretax income. With per diem it's 100% of that money. It really does help.

I'm not sure I agree 100% - keep in mind as your home goes up in value, so do all the others, so it's a wash unless you move into a cheaper area of the country, which will be tough seeing as though you live in Texas.

You didn't really do anything to "create" value - you just bought a brand new home. The builder probably made $25k-$50k+ off of you. How's that for "sticking it to 'the man'"? That and now you're paying interest to 'the man'.

But I see what you are saying - owning, generally, is better than renting unless you are spending >20% more on owning the home rather than renting. But it's not a quick path to riches unless you bought 5 years ago.

Oh, and you've probably heard this before, but your own home isn't an asset...

I don't need another finance/money management lecture Fosters. I crunched the numbers and it IS the better option, especially here in Texas. My mortgage is less than my rent at my apartment. You're right, I didn't "create" value...yet. But building equity is a hell of a lot better way to spend my money than rent. THAT is where the value is created (in addition to the incentives and hardball negotiating that made the house one hell of a deal). And 5 years from now, I will have bought the house 5 years ago, though it won't make a huge difference given that the real estate market in Texas is fairly flat. I don't plan on selling it if I move, it will be rented out, becoming a source of cash flow which IS an asset.

I didn't say you did - I wrote what I did for the benefit of those that read your post and think "I need to buy a house yesterday!". FWIW, I'd buy a house in Texas if I lived there too.

Fair enough. Didn't mean to sound like a jerk:D