If you haven't already, you should both read and fully understand these two great posts:
http://jlcollinsnh.com/2013/05/29/why-your-house-is-a-terrible-investment/
http://jlcollinsnh.com/2012/02/23/rent-v-owning-your-home-opportunity-cost-and-running-some-numbers/
If you read them and still agree to buy a house, at least you did your due diligence.
I have read both of these and will second that they are a good read and give an interesting perspective. It has been a while since I read it but one thing to note is that in jlcollins' situation he was not running his decision numbers based on an 'apples to apples' comparison, i.e. buying versus renting the exact same place. I believe his numbers reflected 'downsizing' the rental as part of the appeal.
I think it comes down to pretty simple math. Pick the level lifestyle you want (house, townhouse, condo, etc). If your cost after everything (prop tax, maintenance, mortgage, less reasonable lost opportunity cost from money not in market, plus reasonable gain in home value) is less with buying, and you plan to stay there for a reasonable ammount of time, and as others noted you dont mind doing maintenance (some people like me like renovating/working on the house) go for it. If you can do better renting an equivalent place, do that. A pretty simple spreadsheet should hash out the rough numbers pretty quickly.
Then make SOME allowances for the intangibles that can affect the decision. There is no hard and fast rule on these everybody weights them differently. For some these are a HUGE deal, for others, not at all:
Intangible pros to owning:
- Ability to reno/modify house to suit your tastes (this is not a financial based decision, but a lifestyle based one).
- If you live in a
very desirable neighborhood, rent can go up fast over the long term, or what I found when we were in a similar circumstance is that rental availability for decent stuff just isn't there, if it's really desireable you may find a large % of owners.
- If you really like your house/neighborhood nobody can make you move when you own (can get booted from a rental at end of lease). I'm assuming of course that foreclosure/tax lein is not an issue.
Intangible pros to renting:
- If you're not thrilled with the place it's very easy and painless to move.
- Better ability to absorb unexpected thing like job loss, or ability to take exciting new opportunities like job offer in different city or even other side of town.
- Even if after running the calculations the 'net gain' of your assets is the same between buying/renting, by renting your assets stay much more liquid at the very least.