Wow - what's your qualifications?

I've got a Master's in Finance. Wouldn't call that ignorant.

Several, including myself (pre-masters degree) were under the impression that buying a home was the best thing you could do when you were in that position. I was in this exact position. I could buy a small home, that I would outgrow in 3-5 years. So I did. Guess what, Bubble burst and my home dropped in value. I wasn't in a position to pay 20K-30K just to get out of my mortgage and I wasn't willing to short sell as I view that as unethical. So, when I was in a position (hire salary, and larger family) I bought another home that met my families needs. And now, I'm a landlord and have been for 3 years of my first home. Didn't really ever want to be a landlord, but my options were now limited to bad decisions I made prior. When the value comes back up, I will probably sell as being a landlord isn't worth the hassle to me.

If I could do things differently, I would have rented and waited until I could come with a larger down payment to mitigate any losses and bring down my interest rate. While renting I would have been invested more diversely and made money.

Whatever you choose to do, go in with your eyes wide open and have contingency plans if things that you can't control don't go the way you planned or hoped. That's not fiscal ignorance, that's fiscal empowerment : )