Note: This article is not meant as tax or legal advice and you should always check with your Accountant and/or Real Estate Attorney to verify your current tax options.

If you are waiting until prices drop to buy a home, you might have a long wait. There are solid reasons to buy a home now, no matter what conditions currently shape your local market.

You gain wealth when you buy property. The average national appreciation in the value of real estate is between 5 and 6 percent annually. If you keep the home, you benefit from home equity ownership interest, whereas if you pay rent, you hand the same money over to someone else.

Building home equity is a means of saving money and having a stable, secure place to live at the same time. The home is yours to change and decorate as you wish, and the more you improve it, the more your investment grows.

Your monthly mortgage payments won’t increase over time like your monthly rent. The U.S. government allows you to deduct the interest you pay on your mortgage and your property taxes.

If you decide to sell the property, you are allowed to keep $250,000 in tax-free profit as a single taxpayer or $500,000 as a jointly filing married couple.

Financial gain, stability, tax savings, predictability and freedom are all good reasons to buy a home in any real estate market.