That depends. Purchasing a home is not impossible as it is in many of our countries of origin. Fifty percent of Latinos living in this country own their own home. Although this number is below the percentage of whites that own homes (70%), homeownership is growing rapidly. From 1994 to 2006, the number of Latino homeowners has increased by 20%, while the number of white homeowners has grown by only 8%.
Home ownership is a big investment but definitely possible. Check out the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit from the federal government. You can qualify for a rebate of up to $8,000 if you buy your first home before December 1, 2009. There are also a number of programs for first-time home buyers that include closing cost grants, tax credits and even reduced interest rate [1] loans.
To understand if you can afford to buy a new home now, check out our calculator