> To the second question, buying a house rather than renting it generally increases your options by about a hundredfold -- many, many more houses are available for sale than for rent. And while property tax can be painful, it's generally substantially cheaper than what you'd pay in rent on the equivalent property. So you get to save a lot more of your income, or at least apply it to paying down your mortgage.

It also reduces your options, in the sense that your mobility may be drastically reduced.

To me, though, the main advantage of home ownership is the promise of one day not having a rent or mortgage payment at all. That's one of the main steps towards retirement.