[Perfectlap]

dude...

RENT a place. If you can't afford your $300 car you definitely can't afford a much bigger liability like a house (insurance, maintenance, utilities, taxes, etc.)

I like the idea of a foreclosure I'm actually doing the same in Florida. I started out helping out a relative who got in over their head on investment properties but only because the house will rent for the mortgage payment and they put down a pretty big down pament so the balance is manageable. Still an equity loser for the next 10 years (at least) but for now there's no mileage in screwing the bank if the renter can pay the montly nut. All that got me looking at listings and I've been to central and south florida and it is not unheard to see cash buyers walking away with homes at 10% of their 2006-2007 selling prices. BUT you have to be a cash buyer and I really don't recommend buying into a falling real estate market with borrowed money. Warren Buffet made a similar statement about taking risks with other peoples money, the surest way to go broke. This real estate market still has 12 to 18 months of down side and it could be the steepest yet. Banks are sitting on homes that are even listed yet for fear of flooding the market with more inventory. And that doesn't include the millions of homes that are inevitable foreclosures where the buyer can pay but the underwater math will never work for them. The house would have to double in value just to break even over the next 20-30 years. Jingle mail. People will just take out another loan for a bigger cheaper house with a different bank and screw over bank #1.

To be quite honest with you unless you are buying homes to rent them out (income property) I don't see the advantages of owning your own place right now. You have your whole life to buy property but your cash has this thing called "time value".
it's a special advantage that most 25 year olds piss away and has a limited time frame. The global economy is taking off with raw material production in Brazil, Chile and China surging. Think oil, steel, copper, iron ore you name it. Small (that's all it takes) EARLY investments now could pay huge rewards down the line.
Like buying Microsoft in the 80's.

1-Pay off your car while putting some away to invest.
2-take a second job bartending
3-pay your mom rent (find a girlfriend who has her own place, it's called a recession).
4-make a goal to stash away 8K a year while making payments on your car (good for your credit).
5-rethink your situation in 18 months. The govt is out of the mortgage backed securities racket for now and the home buyer's tax credit is history. There are more layoffs and bank closings coming in 2010 and 2011. Housing is only going to get cheaper while your bank account swells. Houses can't go up in value or even hold their current prices if people's incomes are not rising. Nobody and I mean nobody is betting on people earning more any time soon.