1) Deciding to get a FIXED RATE loan was NOT luck on my part brother; research and a sound financial decision. That is the ONLY way a person should buy a house...that was true in 1999 and true in 2006. Some things deserve an ONLY brother, and this is one of those things.
2) Look at all the people who took out interest-only loans or some other crap loan with the hopes of selling their house in 5 years for a big gain or investing the money instead of paying down the mortgage. Sorry brother, but interest-only loans are stupid to the nth degree. A home purchase is the biggest purchase most people make, and to play around with potentially being in a tough spot when the price drops -- well, that's just foolish. Price drops for my house, then it doesn't affect me one way or another.
3) I didn't rip the guy for renting his place. If he has to do that for a while then he has to. I just said it was not smart to get an interest-only loan...and it wasn't.
4) I don't require that people stay in their house until they are 90. I won't. I'll probably sell it in 17 more years when I retire and move south. People really should NOT buy a house unless they PLAN to stay in it for 15 years. Plans can change, but deciding to buy a house and stay in it for 5 years or less is crazy...unless you throw a ton of money at it so that even if the price drops you still have equity and aren't left with a big bill when you sell.
5) Yes there are choices -- good choices and bad ones. Getting a loan that is anything other than a fixed rate loan is a bad choice. What if you plan to be in a house for just 5 years so you get a 5 year ARM? Well, what happens if in 5 years the market is horrible and you can't sell it? Then the rate adjusts up and you're stuck with a way bigger payment.
I'm not against investing, but there is a proper order.
1) Emergency fund of 3-6 months.
2) Invest 15% into retirement accounts (401k and Roth IRA); do the 401k first up to the match then to the Roth IRA and then if anything is left, back to the 401k.
3) Buy a house with a fixed rate mortgage that costs 25% of your take home pay or less per month.
4) Got all the things above in place then either throw more money at the house (this is wise at this point -- get that mortgage gone...opens up a TON of possibilities in your later working years if you have no mortgage payment), OR start a non-retirement mutual fund. Either way will allow for some extra money the last 5 years before you retire so that you can either retire early or go part-time or take a dream job even if it pays less, or just have more fun or pad the retirement accounts even more.