OK esmith we’ll do it your way. I plugged these numbers into the handy dandy money.com What can I afford? calculator. Income 69,000, Down payment 50,000, Interest rate 6%, Taxes and insurance $4000 and the magic # is $262,000. So there you have it the median home price in Temecula using traditional lending standards should be $262,000 (at 28% DTI) which was roughly where it stood in the middle of 2002.

So next summer when the median hits $260,000 I’m going to buy a house (because renting sucks) and hope that we don’t overshoot and end up with 2001 prices. I feel so much better now that I have a plan.