nc4, ok, I’ll bite: I’m in my early thirties, just like you. I have a spouse and kids, just like you. We make $200K+, just like you. Our FICOs are 800+, just like yours. As far as assets, let’s say we wouldn’t even need a mortgage if we were to “liquidate all our assets for housing”, as you nicely put it.
Still, we rent. We rent a house that no long ago was “worth” in the seven figures. Why? Because, although I agree with most of your statements, I take exception to one: “in our tax bracket, renting does not make sense”. Yes, today it does (as it did last year, and the year before, and the year before). It makes perfect sense in La Jolla, and Del Mar, and Carmel Valley, and in all areas that haven’t (yet) come down as much. Just like it made perfect sense to stay away from stocks a decade ago.
Honest advice: find a house you like, a house you’d be happy living in as your own, and rent for a couple of years. If you must own (for emotional or practical reasons, as I really think that financially it doesn’t make any sense), then stay with a conforming jumbo and buy smaller or farther away.
I know, it sucks turning thirty during the biggest housing bubble in history. You think that you only have two options, both unappealing: grossly overpay for a house you like, or settle for one that you don’t like. I’m here to tell you that there is a third option: wait.
