Is it a better time to rent or buy a home?
CBSN
The median cost of renting a home around the U.S. has hit record highs for 16 straight months, with a typical apartment in June now going for $1,876, according to Realtor.com. So should that spur renters to take the plunge into buying their own pad?
Not necessarily. On average, first-time homebuyers could expect their monthly payments to top $2,400, according to the real estate listings firm. Renting is cheaper than buying in three-quarters of the country's 50 largest metro areas, Realtor.com found.
The culprit? Rising mortgage rates, which "are increasingly tipping the housing affordability scale in favor of renting over first-time buying," according to the research company.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.