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There's so much gloom and doom about the housing industry and all the things that have gone wrong with real estate values, subprime mortgage nightmares, and foreclosures that home ownership is beginning to get a bad rap. Let's take a look at the upside and what's still great about the good old American Dream.

#1 and #2) For starters, now's a great time to get an incredible bargain on Idaho real estate AND Idaho mortgages . Rates are still attractively low, meaning it will cost you less over the life of your loan to borrow the funds you need for your new home. Real estate prices are down, yes, but for buyers that's great news. You can secure a home now for thousands of dollars less than what you might have paid a few years ago.

#3) Let's face it: Renting isn't exactly a bargain in many areas right now. Rental rates are up in most major metro areas across the country. It's not uncommon to be able to obtain an Idaho mortgage with a monthly payment lower than average rental rates for comparable properties. What would you rather do – pay someone else's mortgage, or invest your money in your own property that will be yours for years to come?

#4) An additional upside: Owning your own property means you can paint whenever and whatever you want. Want to knock down a wall or two? Go for it. You don't answer to anyone but yourself.

#5) Paying your mortgage every month is essentially a forced savings plan. Say, for example, you could rent a place cheaper; $1,000 per month compared to $1,400 per month. That seems enticing, right? An extra $400 a month is nothing to sneeze at. But what are you going to do with that $400? Put it in savings? Most people won't. Spending an extra $400 per month on a mortgage payment is money you'll get back someday when you decide to sell your home. Twenty years from now, would you rather have 30 pounds of extra weight from all that high-fat restaurant food you could afford to indulge in, or a free-and-clear deed?

#6) Buying a home means you'll get a better selection. While some rentals are nice (and are also more expensive), many aren't kept quite up-to-snuff because the owners aren't emotionally invested in it. Think about it from a landlord's perspective. Why would you want to replace the carpet every year just to have a renter come in and leave stains on it? Homes on the market often have upgrades to entice buyers to make an offer.

#7) Don't forget about the sought-after tax deduction! Home owners can take advantage of several tax deductions not available to non-homeowners. Interest paid on your Idaho mortgage loan and real estate taxes are deductible. You have to itemize to take these deductions, though, so make sure you won't be better off taking the standard deduction. Also, if you live in your home for two years or more before you decide to sell, you won't pay taxes on capital gains.

#8) Buying in a down market means you could get a big payoff down the road. Historically, the real estate market fluctuates in a pattern of highs and lows. What goes up, must come down. But if you play your cards right and sit on your investment until the market corrects itself, you could find yourself the owner of a home that's now worth far more than what you paid for it.

#9) The market is full of choices and options. The Idaho housing market is pretty saturated right now, meaning it shouldn't take you long to find the home of your dreams. In a seller's market, buyers have to act fast and can't spend a lot of time mulling things over before putting in and offer, and there's usually some competition from other buyers – so you have to make your first offer a good one. In today's buyer's market, however, there are a lot more homes to choose from, and a lot less buyers bidding on the same homes. Your odds of getting the home you put an offer on are better, and you have a broader selection of homes currently on the market.

#10) Historically, housing trends have beat inflation by a point or two, according to a related article in The Wall Street Journal . Few other investments can offer good odds on inflation protection, so you can rest easy knowing that your monthly mortgage dollars won't inherently lose value as time goes on.