Hats off to you for admitting it. From memory you were heavily pressured by your spouse, it’s a good thing to let that be a lesson to others. I somewhat remember your income/debt/savings numbers and you didn’t have a downpayment then so it’s unlikely you have one now, you won’t be able to buy a second house using the rent the current house out plan with zero down and income insufficient to carry both. Getting financing for the second one is harder and the lending game has changed since last year. I say you are in it for the long haul but you said you were when you were arguing with us last year even though you admitted it was too small of a house. At this point you can only print out the redfin listings and put them in a drawer, then the next time your lovely bride decides she wants what she wants and she wants it now you can take out the printouts and use them as leverage.

I believe your scenario last year prompted me to write one of my favorite posts of all time. Here’s a synopsis; I still think that when there are two spouses in disagreement over when to buy this plan is ideal. It’s quite easy, feel free to invite your better half to read this before purchasing. Every couple has an activity or an act that one person likes and the other one is opposed to, you will have to insert your own act or activity in the following formula. To keep it clean, lets say you like to go to the gym and your spouse hates it but your spouse really wants that house that you think will come down in price. You never get to go to the gym becuase she doesn’t like it and is always complaining about it. Tell her that if you buy that house at, let’s say 350k to use your situation and it drops below 300k, not only will you go to the gym 5 times a week while it is below 300k but it it drops below 250k, she goes with you every time and she is not permitted to complain. So you win either way, you make money in real estate or you get to do your favorite thing while you are waiting. If she truly believes that it wont go down, she will take the bet and if you truly believe it will and wont recover for years, those will be happy years.

I realize that going to the gym, going to church or bike riding isn’t what most of my piggington brothers will choose as the stakes for the bet. 90% of you will choose a sexual act (to occur at will at least weekly), and I highly encourage that. If you do choose that, make the 300k an act that normally only happens on birthdays and the 250k act one that she would never consider. Then when you walk around the office and the topic of your bubble era real estate purchase comes up, you will resond with, “I know, I’m totally upside down, isn’t it great, I hope the market never recovers.” There are however guys married to women who have no boundaries and need no encouragement so in that case, just buy her whatever she wants because you are the luckiest guy in the world.