Paying back your mom's loan in 4 years is about $250/month. How easily can you afford that? Remember your other debts, and how badly you would feel if you couldn't pay your mom back in time.

How does rent compare to a mortgage+taxes+upkeep on a house?

How much does it increase your expenses to live out of the country?

How overvalued is the real estate market where you are?

As for the value of houses versus land, that depends heavily on the amount of local regulation. In markets with little regulation the price was essentially the price of land plus the cost of building a house. In markets with lots of regulation the cost was much higher than that, and there was far less of a correlation between the size of the lot and the price of a house. Neelk had a beautiful link on that a while ago which I cannot find right now, but several of the papers [link|http://www.bus.wisc.edu/realestate/facstaff/pub-malpezzi.htm|here] hint at that result.

As for whether that applies locally, you can decide better than I can. And I can only guess whether a general housing bust would tend to sink all boats. Or for how long. (If you plan to own a house for 10 years, then short-term considerations matter a lot less than if you plan to own it for 4.)

Personally I wouldn't buy a house right now. But I don't know your circumstances, and there is a big element of guesswork involved in that. So buying a house might be reasonable for you, or it might not.

Cheers,
Ben