Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input.

I earn $75K, have $30K in savings, no debt, rent from my parents who are losing their home. Should I buy a home now or save?
For the vast majority, "buying" a house via a mortgage is not an investment.  I use quotes around buying because from a technical perspective you don't own anything until you've paid it off; this is often an important point that people forget. It's highly unlikely you'll make more on it than the amount you put into it (interest, repairs, etc).  Even with relatively low interest rates. The people who successfully invest in homes are those that use actual cash (not borrowed) to buy a home at well below market value.  They then clean it up and make enough repairs to make it marketable and sell it shortly there after.  Sometimes these people get hosed if the housing market tumbles to the point that the home is now worth less than the amount they put into it.  This is especially problematic if they used bank loans to get the process going.  They were actually the hardest hit when the housing bubble popped several years ago.  Well, them and the people who bought on interest only loans or had balloon payments. Whereas the people who use a mortgage are essentially treating it like a bank account with a negative interest rate.  For example, $180k loan on a 30 yr fixed at 4% will mean a total payout of around $310k, excluding normal repairs like roofs, carpet, etc.  Due to how mortgage's work, most of the interest is collected during the first half of the loan period.  So selling it within 2 to 5 years is usually problematic unless the local housing market has really skyrocketed. Housing markets move up and down all the time due to a hundred different things completely out of your control.  It might be a regional depression, weather events, failed large businesses, failed city/local governments, etc.  It could go up because businesses moved in, a new highway is built, state/local taxes decline, etc. My point is, homes are not long term investments.  They can be short term ones, but only in limited circumstances and there is a high degree of risk involved.  So don't let that be a driving point of your decision. Instead you need to focus on other factors.  Such as: what is really going on with the house you are currently in?  Why would they lose it?  Can you help out, and, should you help out?  If things are precarious, it might make more sense to sell that home now and everyone move into separate locations, possibly different rentals or apartments.  If they are foreclosed on then they will be in a world of financial hurt for a long time. If we ignore your parents situation, then one piece of advice I would give you is this: Rent the cheapest apartment you can find that is still a "safe" place to live in.  Put every dollar you can into some type of savings/investment that will actually grow.  Stay there for 5+ years, then go pay cash for a nice home.  Making $75k a year while single means that you don't need much to live on.  In other words, live extremely cheap now so you can enjoy a fantastic living experience later that is free from financial fear.  You should be able to put $30k+ per year aside going this route. edit: A bit of support data for those that somehow think buying a home on a mortgage is somehow a good investment:   Robert Shiller, who won a Nobel prize in economics and who predicted the bursting of the housing bubble, has shown that a house is not a good investment.  Why?  First, home prices (adjusted for inflation) have been virtually unchanged for the past 100 years.  (link 1, link 2)  Second, after you add in the costs of maintenance alone then those costs plus what you've paid for the home will exceed what you get out of it.  Adding in the cost of a mortgage could easily double or even triple the price you paid which makes things even worse.  Maintenance costs include things like a new roof, carpet/flooring, water heater, appliances, etc. Yes, a home might cost you $100k and you might sell it for $200k after 15 years.  However during that time you'll likely replace the roof ($10k to $20k), replace appliances ($2k to $5k), water heater ($1k), carpet/flooring ($5k to $20k), paint ($3k to $6k), and mortgage related costs (~$60k - assuming 30 yr fixed @4%).  So your "costs" are between $180k and $200k just on those items.  There are many more that could easily escalate the costs further.  Like a fence ($5k+), air conditioner ($5k+), windows, etc. The above is assuming the home actually appreciates in value faster than inflation: which they historically haven't over the long term.   So you have to consider all of the costs ultimately paid to purchase and maintain the home vs the costs of renting during the same time period.   Point is: do your research and be realistic about it.  Buying a home is a huge financial risk.