re: What's your opinion of people who are underwater on their mortgages?

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You pay so much in mortgage interest (and mortgage insurance, depending) over the years that "building equity" is incredibly misleading. Not to mention property taxes, homeowners insurance, maintenance, etc.

Buying a home is not an "investment", it's simply you buying a home vs. renting it.

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You can't really say this without comparing apples to apples. Sure, you could spend a decent amount of money on taxes/insurance that you wouldn't by renting, but you're ignoring that renting means you're paying profit to your landlord. I pay less per month for my total mortgage payment than I could pay to rent a similar house in my neighborhood. So the only extras I'm really on the hook for is upkeep, and I'm OK with that.

To add to that, a professional athlete rented next door to my parents. The house he was in could be bought in the $375k to $400k range. His rent was $3200 a month. You could buy it and pay much less per month after factoring in insurance and taxes. And that doesn't take into account any equity (even the small bit you start building form day 1). The only thing that really hurts you is closing costs outside of the down payment, but sellers cover a chunk of that these days (most times).