I am in the situation where I bought in 2000, and sold in early 2007. I made upwards of $240k profit. I was lucky and smart enough to not use my house as a ATM. I am renting right now, and was planning on renting until 2009, but a property came up that fit everything we wanted in a area that had good schools and close to work. I will be putting 120,000 down on the house, and expect to purchase a investment property with the rest of the profits from the first home, when the market hits the bottom(around 2009-2010).
I will say that there are a small number of people that I know that did not use there home as a ATM machine. I was one of the only ones in my neighborhood that was able to walk away with so much gains in equity, and therefore allowing me to move up into a nicer home, and enough in the bank for a investment property in 2010.
