Own. Actually we bought our first house in 1998 at age 22 not because we wanted to, but because prices were rising fast and we felt that we might miss our window if we waited longer. It was severely in need of renovation, and we did just that in a few months with a lot if help from friends and family. Sold the house and bought another house in 2000, which was at that time about seventy years old and showing it's age (basically barely inhabitable). We did some major rebuilding from 2002 until 2004, and have been improving it on and off ever since, always saving up money in between. I like it this way, we've got a house we could have never afforded 25 years ago, but do have the same mortgage costs we had in 2000. You have to be handy to do it this way though.