Is it better to buy or rent right now? Here is what we found

I had the opportunity to meet many locals yesterday during our Fighting Together Locals Advocacy Fair and I had the chance to hear some of the biggest challenges many of you are facing and one issue that kept coming up was affordable housing. Tonight I looked into your question, is it better to buy or rent right now? I also introduced you to one woman whose housing decision comes down to what she can actually afford. For many Las Vegans deciding whether to buy a home or rent is all about making the numbers work and currently while rents here may be starting to drop, payments for a home remain high. We can't afford it and that's still expensive. I caught up with Lizzie Ramirez at the grocery store. She tells me she can no longer afford her home and renting is now her only option. It just makes more sense right now to rent instead of continuing to pay that high mortgage payment. Yes. A recent report from Redfin shows rent prices in Las Vegas are dropping slightly with a 1.5 percent decrease since August to September bringing the median asking rent to $1,475 but for Lizzie the process isn't easy. So it's really difficult. Like you said I applied for an apartment and you have to have like double triple the rent so it makes it even harder for us to you know be able to live. For context I found a home listed in the southwest part of the valley at around $560,000. With an FHA loan you'd be looking at around $4,000 a month with a 3.5 percent down payment but just a few blocks away similar homes are renting for about $2,400. How affordable or how accessible is home ownership for many people here like yourself? The prices are outrageous right now. The bottom line it comes down to is what can you afford? Definitely. It's like anything you don't bite off more than you can chew. Local mortgage banker Darren Hahn says if you can buying still holds value. If you buy your own home if the payments are similar now you're actually building up potential equity in real estate in a new home otherwise you're just paying someone else's rent. Lizzie says she hopes mortgage rates continue to drop and help make the home buying process a reality for her once again. You can't get you can't buy a house you know on like $15, $16 an hour. Reporting in Las Vegas, I'm Abel Garcia.