Home Buyer: Hot Market...Should I rent?

[Charles Montgomery]

Im not a flipper. Im a home buyer. I have a question. The home market is hot in my area. Houses in neighborhoods where prices were $160's last year are now in the $220's. Where it used to be $350K, its now $450K. Its insane. Not only that, they are gone in minutes of being listed.

My question. Would it be good to rent for a year and let the market cool off, then buy? Or are we risking interest rates increasing? We sold our house and have been looking for a month - putting in offers and getting outbid. But...our house is sold so we are free to do what we like.

I wish I knew how to rehab a property. There's a couple on the market that I love, but never really looked into costs to fix them.