I bought my first house in 1984. Banks were begging you to take out a mortgage and prices were in the tank. I bought the house with 5% down, PMI and a 14 percent, 1 year adjustable mortgage (interest rates were so high they had to go down). When rates went down property values soared and I was able to use the gain to finance most of the purchase of my next house.

My advice is take advantage of the low interest rates if you can. You have to live somewhere and the mortgage payments are a form of forced savings and partially subsidized by the US government.