<prompt> Human: Hey all, I will be moving from Bloomington to Denver in January and I have been looking at apartments to rent. January isnt very far away so I know for a fact Ill at least be renting for the first few months. My older brother keeps telling me I should buy a house because its cheaper in the long run. How true is this? Basically he said I can make payments on a home, and if I decide to move in 5 years I could just sell the house and make most of my money back or even make money since housing prices are going up fast. Is it really that easy to just sell a house? I dont want to be trapped if I get a better job elsewhere and be forced to make payments on a home I dont live in until its sold. What would you all do in my situation?Assistant: Do you have a minimum of 20k youd need to even consider buying a house thats just closing and down-payment for a house in that area, not even considering emergency fund reserves.Is it that easy to just sell a house? Right now it is, but thats not always the case. Will it be in 5 years? No one on the planet knows the answer to that.Human: I have 5k in savings right now, so it would probably be at least six months before I could afford a 20k down payment. A 10k down payment could be doable by March however. In general, would you say houses are a safe investment, even if they are hard to sell for a few years?  <response>: A house is a safe investment under one condition; you plan to keep it for more than 5 years. Very rarely will a house have lost value in a run longer than that. In your case, probably not. People are freaking out about real-estate investment now because the market is booming, but that wont last forever. You may end way up, you may not. 