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You can spend a lot of time and research trying to figure out whether or not it would make sense for you to get a house. Some articles out there will tell you to rent for as long as you can, while others will advise you to stop throwing money away and buy a house! There are several good rent vs buy websites out there (NY Times or BankRate) but even those are a bit flawed. Perhaps it would be cheaper for me to rent right now, but isn’t buying a house considered an investment and I could be building equity? I’m not actually sure if I have a good answer to whether or not you should buy a house. What I can tell you is how my wife and I arrived at this decision.

1) We’re financially stable.

Both of us have good paying jobs and our budget is flexible. We’re contributing to a retirement plan and have a nice emergency fund stashed away. We’re almost done paying off my wife’s student loans (3 more months!) and we are saving a nice chunk of change each month.

2) We’ve got money in the bank.

To purchase a house, you’ll need $10-$20K in the bank at the very least. Banks will often require anywhere from 5-20% down. For a $200K house, that could be $10K-$40K. Over the past year, we’ve been diligently putting money aside and just watching it build up in our savings account.

3) We like the city where we live.

Atlanta is a pretty cool city and both of us agree that we see ourselves staying here for quite a while (3-5 years, or more).

4) It appears to be a good time to buy a house.

Interest rates are still at ‘historic’ lows (we’ve been quoted at 4.5% APR), which means we’ll pay less interest over the life of our mortgage. Also, Atlanta was one of the top ten foreclosed cities in the country back when 2008 hit. The housing market is slowly coming back to life and there are a ton of houses right now on the market; which means we can take our pick.

5) We’ve found a good neighborhood.

This neighborhood is still in Atlanta proper but is a little further out from the mainstream. It’s certainly appears to be on the up and up, as there are at least 20 new houses being built. Old houses are going down and new ones coming up in their place. There’s also a Publix that will be breaking ground in July. From an investment standpoint, we seem to have picked a neighborhood that will see price appreciation in the next couple of years.

6) We’re willing to take on the responsibility.

When you rent, you simply call your landlord and they come out and fix things in the house. However; when you buy, you’re the landlord and you’re responsible. If you can’t fix it yourself, you’ll have to pay someone, and that’s not cheap. Although neither my wife nor I are that handy, we are willing to learn new things and use a little elbow grease.

Buying a house is certainly a scary process, and an unchartered one for most young professionals. After signing all those official documents, you realize that you’re now in debt for a large sum of money (a hundred thousand). If the washer goes out, we’ll have to replace it. We’ll be responsible for cutting the grass and cleaning the gutters. Home ownership is certainly the American dream, and it’ll be nice to know that I’m building equity in myself, instead of for someone else (by paying rent). Although every situation will be different, I’d recommend asking yourself the same questions that my wife and I talked through. Finally, always consult someone wiser than you (a parent, mentor, financial adviser or realtor) and get their opinion, that’s what we did!

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