So buy a 2 or 3 bedroom condo. It’s not the end of the world to live in an apartment, American snobbery notwithstanding.
BTW – 1.1% of purchase price is low by national standards. In some parts of the East Coast, you’ll be paying $10-20 grand a year on a $700k house, not approx $7700.[/quote]
My point is that people are moving because they don’t WANT to rent a 2 bedroom condo after renting for the past 12 years+ since college…I don’t know if you’ve lived or visited other parts of the country, maybe it’s not SD or CA, but it’s just not as bad IMO as some people make it to be…especially for the price to live here.
We purchased in 2009 so we’re stuck now, but honestly, I could live in a tokyo coffin since I really don’t care about housing much, but tell that to a lot of families w/kids, moms/wives, etc…and they would probably agree that paying large amounts for what you get in terms of housing feels bad.
I have a relative that left the bay area for that exact reason. Felt poor with the mortgage and so much money was going there and didn’t want to put up with it so moved. And this wasn’t even in the most/desirable areas.