The staying or going pertains to Homeownership. If you're a first time home owner or you're thinking about becoming a first time home owner... this might be a scary time for you... every other news report deals with either the foreclosure rate going up... or the housing value coming down.

                 WHAT IS ONE TO DO???                                             

One thought to keep in mind is that you will make a house payment ... you will make either your house payment or you will make your landlord's house payment... but YOU WILL MAKE A HOUSE PAYMENT.

Realizing this, what can I get for what I pay?

To answer this question, the New York Times created a great interactive graph. Just insert  the values and viola...  Simply enter the amount of rent you pay... then enter the price of the home you are considering... How much down...  figure the mortgage rate (%)... the annual property taxes... there is even a place to insert the annual home appreciation and the annual rent increase/decrease... press the calculate button and like I said...VIOLA

To play with the chart click HERE

Kudos to Tom Jackson & Archie Tse for creating the graph.