1. You can get a good deal because this is a buyer’s market. Prices have come down a long way – about 30% from their peak, according to Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Index, which tracks home prices in 20 big cities.

2. Mortgages are cheap and these are the lowest rates on record. If inflation picks up, you won’t see these mortgage rates again in your lifetime.

3. You’ll Save on taxes with the ability to deduct the mortgage interest, the real estate taxes…and you’ll get a tax break on capital gains-if any-when you sell.

4. It’ll be yours and you’ll feel better about your own place if you own it than if you rent. You can have the kitchen and bathrooms you want, you can move the walls, build an extension-zoning permitted-or paint everything bright orange.

5. You’ll get a better home. In many parts of the country it can be really hard to find a good rental. Generally speaking, if you want the best home in the neighborhood, you’re better off buying.

6. It offers some inflation protection. No, it’s not perfect, but studies suggest that over the long-term housing has tended to beat inflation by a couple of percentage points a year.

7. It’s risk capital. No, you home isn’t the stock market and you shouldn’t view it as the way to get rich, but, if the economy does surprise us all and start booming, sooner or later real estate prices will head up again, too.

8. It’s forced savings. Once again, you have to do your math, but the part of your mortgage payment that goes to principal repayment isn’t a cost. You’re just paying yourself by building equity.

9. There is a lot to choose from. The National Association of Realtors puts the current inventory at around 4 million homes; that means great choice, as well as great prices.

10. Sooner or later, the market will clear and demand and supply will meet. The population is forecast to grow by more than 100 million people over the next 40 years. That means maybe 40 million new households looking for homes.

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