... Most homes purchased at what seems like a fire-sale price in early 2009 will drop in value for an indeterminable span of time, Richard Green, director of the University of Southern California's Lusk Center for Real Estate, told U.S. News & World Report. That means buying a home that you plan to live in for a number of years may make sense; buying one as an investment may not. Whether to buy at all depends largely on job security. Absent significant savings - which also have been decimated by the downturn - it's almost impossible to keep up with a mortgage when unemployed...
