I understand your pain as my wife and I just recently bit the bullet and finally decided to purchase a home. Growing up in the Midwest, it really is easy to get sticker shock moving out here as a $1Mn dollar home can’t really get you much. This being said, after constantly renting and saving we finally decided to settle down and buy something a few years ago. Although still not entirely happy having to deal with the maintenance, our family is no longer in limbo anymore and we have a place where we can settle for the next 10 or so years and call a home. After living in many places including LA, Scottsdale, Maui, and Santa Barbara; this is the place we ultimately wanted to end up and raise a family. Everyday when I drive to work and get home I feel blessed to be able to enjoy living where I want to, raising a family in a wonderful city, and being able to surf and golf year round. Everyone is different, but for me those things are priceless. Sure I can move back to Michigan and buy a mansion but I can’t take the weather, community, beach, and museums with me.
