The housing market was given a huge boost in recent years by lax lending standards that enabled a ton of people to buy houses that they never should have been able to using gimmicky mortgages. The result has been record foreclosures, and lot of people who pursued the American Dream are regretting it. Now they're back to renting and a lot of people witnessing the carnage are wondering: Is homeownership really worth it?

In a column in Parade, Mike Hammer lists 4 "great reasons to rent": renting can save money, homeowners' tax deductions are overstated, there are more options available to renters, and renting gives you flexibility. Hammer writes:

According to popular myth, renters are just throwing their money away. But the reality is that when you buy a home, you're paying for closing fees, mortgage interest, property taxes, private homeowners' insurance and maintenance -- costs that return nothing on your investment.

On the list of "must-do" things in order to be considered a "real" adult are marriage, home, and children. All of which cost a lot of money. My focus today is on owning a home, which seems to be one important measure of whether or not you've "made it" or "grown up." It's just the socially acceptable thing to do. Buy a home and prove you're an adult.

Yet it can make a lot of sense to rent an apartment. Especially during turbulent times in the real estate market. But even if we were still in the housing bubble, renting would make sense for plenty of people. Here's why...

With home ownership, you theoretically are better off because you're building equity, so all the money you're paying to be in that home theoretically leaves you owning something in the end. Yet the cost of ownership is very expensive when you figure in mortgage payments, mortgage insurance, property taxes, association dues (if you have them), repairs, property insurance, and general upkeep. And some people aren't even building any equity because they went into "interest only" mortgages or otherwise bought houses which they can't afford.

It also takes a fair amount of cash just to get into a house. When you figure in the down payment and the closing costs, there is a lot of money paid up front to live in a house. And that can be painful on the pocketbook. All in all, plenty of homeowners find out quickly that the cost to own is much higher than they planned.

In my last post, I wrote about the hassles of refinancing. It's been a while since I've updated everyone, and I apologize for that, but I've just been dwelling on what to do.

The wife and I sat down and talked about everything. About how we got into the position we are in and how to get out of it. Basically what it came down to is that we jumped into the "home-owners" market too quick. We got sucked in by the allure of owning our own home. We didn't realize all the side effects of owning a home; the maintenance, the upgrades, and most importantly, actually paying for it.

I received a lot of very helpful comments. My short Walletpop career has been jammed with more information than I have read in the past few months. The help and the tips I have received have been great, and have steered me in the right direction.