I agree that speculating or extending yourself probably won’t end well in this market.
I guess as a cash buyer I look at the situation differently. I’m not going to be forced to sell. I’ll probably own this home until I die. I feel reasonable certain it will be worth quite a bit more by then.
Anyway, I’m not quite sure where I would do better with this cash in a relatively passive investment. I already have enough non-margin exposure to the stock market. I also have plenty of money in a variety of other financial instruments.
To me the return is good and the long term prognosis is as well.
Since I’m not there everyday, looking at Re, I was not going to wait in hopes of getting a better deal when this one was good enough.