Rent vs buy depends on many factors especially the location. There are places in this country that your monthly rental payment is double what you would pay for mortgage/taxes/insurance/water/sewer etc in a place like that it's obviously a no brainer, but in a place like Brooklyn you really need to see if it works for you because regardless if it pays to buy or not you may not be able to keep up with the monthly payments, and the rent may be less than what you would pay if you owned it. I've seen people in brooklyn moving from a 3bd to a 1bd because they couldn't afford it. What would they do if they were locked into a mortgage? Just my two cents.
+1
I agree that in brooklyn it's not really affordable to own, especially if not sure of long term living there..
However, the example of moving due to not affording rent on the 3bd may not be accurate
if their mortgage would have been half the monthly payments, perhaps. So, even if someone lost a job,
perhaps the $1,000 per month mortgage may have been affordable but not the $2,000/mo rent...
(those numbers may only apply once owned for 10+ years. For new homeowners, a bigger challenge if no cash for an $80+K downpayment.)