I don’t understand why people think that it easy to trade up with appreciation. If your condo goes up $100k, your dream home goes up 200K. OK you have $100k to put down, but you’re still going to borrow a $100k more then if you purchased the dream home from the beginning.
But there is safety in diversification.
If you put all your eggs in one basket by overextending yourself on a mortgage, even small changes in your financial situation can put you at risk of losing the home and hurting your credit.
Whereas if you’re in a place that falls more in your “affordability” zone, you can weather larger changes and come through clean.
During that same time period, you might be able to earn that $100k or more by investing the difference elsewhere.