Renting just sounds better and better. . .
20% down of a half million dollars for a "starter home"? Yea, that's fifty grand. Yep, lemmee pull that right out of my ass for ya'.
Until lenders start realizing the absurdity of the situation out there, you're going to see first-time starts plummetting over the coming years. That is until (1) prices correct meaningfully and (2) lending institutions come up with ways to allow people to purchase that aren't so ridiculously risky or cost-prohibitive.
PMI is a rip-off. I'd never even consider it.