Buying a home in todays market

The general media has invested so much ink and air time into perpetuating the notion of a housing bubble that it's now time to turn that to your potential advantage.  Just a short while ago, any buyer had to brave the  auction style feeding frenzy, lick an envelope, submit their "sealed bid" cross their fingers and hope that their 5% over the asking price offer was enough to do it against the dozen or so other interested parties.  No doubt that makes for happy sellers.  However, since we all need a place to live, don't just about all sellers turn right around a

In almost every situation I'd tell you to put down as little as possible. There are always exceptions to the rule.  But let me run some numbers from one of my home purchases.

I'm a buyer and I'll tell you why.  The average annual rate of appreciation for homes in the United States is 6.23%, going back over 40 years.