Prospective buyers should take a cautious approach, recommends financial analyst Jordan E. Goodman, author of "Everyone's Money Book on Real Estate" (Dearborn Trade Publishing, 2002).
It is important, he said, not to look at the market but at your own place in it. How has the economy affected you? What happens if two incomes become one? What happens if you have children? Or have to move?
There are plenty of benefits to owning a house: A house can build up equity over time. Buy in the right place -- and do your homework -- and you have a huge chance of appreciation. It can give you a deeper commitment to your community, can be a tax advantage or a source of cash somewhere down the line.
But do it wrong or too emotionally and you could put everything into your down payment on the most beautiful house you've ever seen and then not be able to afford to sit inside it.
