I would also say BUY - don't rent.
I have been able to purchase a few houses that have increased in value tremendously in just a few years. My first house I paid $60,000 and sold it 2 years later for $130,000. The house I'm in now I bought for $200,000 in 1990 and it is now worth over 2 million in 16 years here - I'm blown away by how the real estate prices have gone up. That why buying is a good idea.

Kathleen