In responce to your post and for many of those who ask why would someone making 200K buy a cheap house. It would make more sense to think of the purchase as a perpetuity. Why wouldn’t a young family buy something well within their means use it for 4 or 5 years and then buy a new place and use the old place as a rental.
My folks are on the east coast. Wouldn’t it make sense to buy something within my means and then if my parents get to a point that they want to move closer to the family have a place waiting for them with the flexibility of buying a larger place down the line.
God forbid during that 5 to 7 year period something wer to happen to the primary earner they are well within their comfort level without hving to pay hefty life, and disability premiums over that period of time.
