Welcome to SD with your shirts intact. If you think the home price in VA is high, wait until you hit the west coast. I was in your situation last year and been thankful ever since we sold our house. Your next big challenges in buying are location, location, location and a very minor detail in pricing ;). Avoid Pardee in CV if you can because price there has not gone down much and the builder is not willing to negotiate much on incentives or discounts. Pardee typical track homes starting in 800K with tiny lot. Enough said, you will feel the pain when you get here.