the $500k house is NEW. it is for sale by the builder. it’s done and has been sitting there for 2-3 months. lanscaped front/rear. nice nice view. so there is no “equity” … what you have is the profit margin and how much is the builder willing to give up to sell. i do know it is the LAST phase..they yhave 3-4 hosus left and the project is done..so they may be willing to deal somewhat to get rid of them. it wsa listed at almost $600k six months ago…but that’s too high. there is a resale on the same street for $600k that has a nice pool in the yard…

i figure if it’s a $2000 house to rent…it should sell for more like $400k…assuming that 200x rent guideline…

i totally agree with one of the prior comments that there will be another house that will be as good as this one. if prices come down -t he next house may be even better. 🙂

honestly, the $500k house may be biting off too much at this point – with 100% financing the payment will be huge, and i’d probably want to go interest only to stomach the payment and 2% tax rate – which is basically renting money from the bank (like a renter renting a house) only I ‘d get to pay taxes, HOAs, repairs, etc etc..

as to the earlier person who called my stay at home wife a “deadbeat” – there is nothing “deadbeat” about a woman staying home and raising children. i’ve stayed home some days and tried it – it’s hard. too many kids today grow up with no mom at home, they come home from daycare and mom/dad are so burned out from a long day at work/long ocmmute that they get KFC for dinner and off to bed. no one helps with homework, no one talks, and then they wonder why johnny is smoking weed, why sally is knocked up at 16, and so on. i’ll gladly sacrifice driving a 3 series, or having a euro vacation very year to give my kids a warm nuturing upbringing.