Buying a home now is not a bad strategy. Prices have fallen 20-30% since the peak. The strategy to use is buy based on a payment you can afford and use an FHA loan which only requires a 3% down payment. All FHA loans qualify for a Streamline Refinance with no appraisal or income qualifications as long as the previous 12 months of payments have been made on time. You cannot have a drastic drop in income but other than that it is a slam dunk. Just remember that an FHA loan can only be made by a HUD approved lender so many brokers can't offer FHA loans.

Buying a home now is not a bad strategy. Prices have fallen 20-30% since the peak. The strategy to use is buy based on a payment you can afford and use an FHA loan which only requires a 3% down payment. All FHA loans qualify for a Streamline Refinance with no appraisal or income qualifications as long as the previous 12 months of payments have been made on time. You cannot have a drastic drop in income but other than that it is a slam dunk. Just remember that an FHA loan can only be made by a HUD approved lender so many brakers can't offer FHA loans.