Jobs going up 50%: Well a friend of mine started working for Idec as a tech making about 38K in 2003. He is now making upwards of 60K in another large pharmaceutical even without stock options or 401k match figured in. Also he is now married and has a combined income of over 120k.

Also many people prefer to have roommates and still more will get roommates if they need a few hundred extra dollars each month. If you have a 3 bedroom you can rent out the other two rooms for a minimum of 1000/month in San Diego. Even if your mortgage takes up your entire pay check you can still live. Or heaven forbid you pick up a part time bartending gig. I have seen lots of my friends take out crazy loans. You can tell the ones that will make it. They have drive, initiative, and the desire to succeed. It may not be pretty, but many people will make it work. There are others that I have seen fail. This guy has no problem. He can sit through a 50% drop in equity and still about break even if he is forced to sell. The problem comes when you have negative equity and can’t make the payments even by renting out rooms.