If you were super disciplined (definitely banking the money and not using it for some other purpose), believed that inflation will remain low and home prices will come down in the future, option 3 makes some sense. Of course that’s a lot of what ifs that aren’t guaranteed. $500K for 1400 sf even in San Diego feels a little bubbly to me, but I gave up trying the rationalize the housing market, it’s driven by emotion way too much.
