It's usually better to own than rent, as long as you can afford all the monthly expenses even if a disruption in your income were to occur -- at least 6 months total living expenses in an emergency fund.  And if you will remain in the area for at least 3-5 years to build equity, or be able to rent out the house for enough to cover all expenses if relocation became necessary due to job transfer or such.

If you can afford a starter house now, you should eventually be able to trade up into something closer to your dream house.  If your area is unaffordable, are you open to and able to consider relocating soon to more affordable parts of the country?  Could you buy a house with a rental unit for added income?  

Buy if you can comfortably do so because it could be more difficult in future.  Owning brings satisfaction that frivolous spending never can.  It's an investment in your future security.  Check out Dave Ramsey for lots of financial wisdom and guidance.

 I would buy if I could! Renting is not ideal. You are building someone elses equity for them as a renter. Why not build your own? Your Libra Moon makes it hard to make a decision but your Sun intuitively knows what would be a good investment and what wouldn’t I think. 

I would consider waiting for the prices to drop before you buy.

Owning a house is definitely better than renting but now is not a good time to buy.  I've been looking for a new house for the past 4 months and have found that they are all way overpriced.  Even if you find a house you can afford, because there are not a lot of houses on the market now, you have competition from people willing to pay thousands more than the asking price.  Its a ridiculous, fake market.  

If you want to know if a house is overpriced, just look at the property history on a site like Zillow.  One house I looked at was worth $100k less just 3 years ago and its not like they remodeled it to justify the price hike.  That is not normal.

Now that the interest rates are rising on mortgages, it will soon go from a seller's market to a buyer's market, so hang in there for a little longer.  That's what I'm hoping for anyway.

Astrology shows trends in your life.  I always look at the transits to my natal chart from the outer planets.

Thanks. I appreciate everyone's advice. So this is more to the story.

We moved in here 2.5 years ago, desperate, because my daughter was so sick from mold in our old house and we had to leave that house b/c landlord was selling it. I posted in the town FB group for a newer home with no basement (pretty non-existent in this very old town). One came up, it was empty. And the landlord agreed to do a one-year lease. The thing is he was very set on selling it. He then got diagnosed with some grave illness and told me he planned to do a fire sale. I didn't make an offer b/c I was still at the tail end of Pluto ripping my life apart, in court with my ex, a sick kid. It was too much. He said he'd even finance it. So I backed out.

Then I wrote him and he said he'd still give me a year lease, and I said that would give me time to be prepared to buy.

Well here I am 2 years later.

This house isn't perfectly mold free (no house really is unless you build from scratch) - I've been trying to find us an even better situation for both our health, but buying land and building right now is daunting alone with all that I do (single mom running a homeschool coop, homeschooling a kid, health stuff, running a business). 

We've also formed a hearty community the years we've lived in this town. I was sick this past week and several people offered to do things for me, one brought me a basketful of fresh veggies from her garden. The town is developing rapidly and becoming a little destination. 

When friends or even my neighbor went to purchase a house a couple months ago, they were outbid by $100k with people offering to pay cash! The only way my neighbor got his house was because he is able to repair the septic system on the house they bought. I don't have either of those abilities. 

And while a dreamy part of me is like "I'll move to Italy" (always my tune) or buy land and build a tiny house, costs to build are nuts.

So my landlord tried to list the house last summer and I panicked. I told him I'd work something out. And then he extended my lease anyway and took it off the market. The thing is. The house itself is nice - built ins everywhere, all new appliance, only 20 year old home, big cathedral ceiling, well-built - but the taxes are high and we are basically in a parking lot! It's weird location and no back yard. (We have the entire expanse of the trails by our house and playground and hills, etc) I could prob get upward of $2k a month if I rented it. 

My landlord knows the market. He knows things are going to go down. I have a lease til Dec and this house isn't on the market right now. So either he takes my offer (which will be v. low) or he waits til we move out at the end of december, tries to list it, find another buyer, etc). 

It does, ideally, need to be painted (which he said he'd do this spring but hasn't), and a new roof. It's needs new toilets and a bit of landscaping out front, but that would be it. So I'm trying to figure out who I can talk to to help me work out what's reasonable. I want to get it for under 300k. And while he may not agree, I feel like I have some things working for me. And he likes us! 

But if he won't come down and the price is mid-upper 300s, then it won't work. I will feel stuck. It's still below market, but with the taxes what they are, it wouldn't be an overall good investment. 

I've dragged on hanging on to this place b/c we literally have no where else to go and with our sensitivities to mold, etc. it can be near-impossible. I have friends who have been looking for years. Heck, I looked for a total of 36 months over two different times we had to move. It's a huge pain. 

So that's where things are at.