Are You Better Off Renting?With home prices rising, it might make sense to people looking for a home to steer away from buying one and to consider renting instead. After all, if prices are heading upward, why not rent for a while and wait for those home prices to eventually come down? Why that may sound like a logical and practical decision, it’s really not. The truth is that today, with mortgage rates very low, it’s still cheaper and more cost-effective in the long run to buy your next home rather than rent one. Just ask Trulia, the online real estate information firm, which noted in a study that mortgage rates would have to soar to make renting a cheaper option than buying. Mortgage ra…