pd, what diego mentioned about the 100x rent multiplier as a floor is good advice. I am in a similar boat and have analyzed it to death. We are coming into a home stretch of sorts, perhaps not the overcorrection phase but the very reason you mentioned you feel like buying is why the fundamentals work. The same was true for the bubble, why that house you like wasn’t worth $200 or $300 a sq ft., you have to ignore the anectodal advice and look at the fundamentals. You can pay 200k for a place you would be happy with and it costs the same or more to rent, do you honestly think that it will soon cost twice the money to rent than to buy? So there’s your answer, it will fluctuate a little above and below rent, take the place you like, take the tax deduction and screw it, count yourself a genius for waiting until now. Nobody can guarantee you appreciation, depreciation or interest rates. If you can easily afford it, it’s time.

I can tell you inventory is not rising in our valley, well priced places are moving quickly, I think another month or two and the competition will thin so we will have a bit more negotiating power. But this 2011 or 2012 stuff is not applicable here, we are ahead of the cycle.

The trouble with taking advice from san diegans is they have an entirely different paradigm. If they make 100k and a nice house is 400-700k, they have some waiting to do. If you make 100k and can buy a nice house for 200-300k, especially 200k like you mentioned, who the hell cares, that’s a freaking car payment. How much sleep should we lose?