I think what BenK was saying is that the homeowner who "owns" no equity in his home doesn't really own a home, does he? Hence, he is like a renter; he has living quarters, but no ownership. As for your question, whether it is cheaper to rent or own; it is always cheaper to rent. As for your first question of whether Countrywide comes out in the red after reselling the $300,000 home for $275,000; it all depends on how long they took to resell it; if they turned it over in a couple of months, they still came out ahead, if they ate it for a couple of years, they will need a decade of payments to come out ahead. As for your final question of how to determine whether a new acquisition was wise, I think you answered it quite nicely.