Our story is similar to others here. We had bought our home in ’00 and sold in Mar. ’06 in Ventura County. Once we had our first child in ’05 our plan was to move back toward where we have family…San Diego. We sold at the peak up there, although prices haven’t come down that much in the area. We sold as the equity we took out allowed me to immediately quit my job and stay at home with our daughter, the best decision ever.
Also, we still own a rental property in Riverside County so we get the tax benefits of that.
So I am one of the wifes that really wants to “nest” but all my studies of economics and logic tell me to wait….so we are renting for now (even with baby #2 on the way). We just moved to San Diego and found a nice rental home in RB that we move to shortly.
We personally think we’ll be aggressively looking in winter ’07-08, but time will tell if the right opportunity presents itself.
Someone also posted that they spend way too much time looking at listings…I think I have the same issue! It’s hard not too as I have usually found the homes that we buy. I do enjoy everyone’s comments here and will continue to look here for support as a renter vs. former homeowner as this has been harder to transition to than realized.