shane,
Whatever I could tell you about the NE would be negative so I won't go there. But I've noticed you commenting on the fact you would like to buy for quite some time here on CP and I'm in a similar situation, although I'm single and I believe you said your situation involves two incomes.
The problem is that at the moment, it's strictly a sellers market. I know you're likely looking at renting the same way I do and it does feel like it's wasted money, but the other avenue of buying could see you wasting even more. You buy something right now, in an over-priced market and 5 or even 10 years down the road you go to sell it and maybe only get 3/4's of what you bought it for. That's not a guarantee, but it's a financial risk that could bite hard down the road.
I work in the construction industry and the price of stuff is climbing at an astronomical rate. We had a one month span earlier this year where the average price of a place went up over $20,000. It's impossible to predict whether the current rate of increase can continue, but right now it's looking like a really bad time to buy. When you hear the price of some of the building material has gone down, and significantly in some cases, but the price to buy something continues to go up, it's not a good sign. I'm not expert, but I would advise against buying at the moment. Giving it some time will probably save you a lot in the long run.
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