RUaDSarah's Profile

We live in a pretty inexpensive place compared to the ones you mention. Our rental home isn't very nice, but we're currently able to spend a little less than 1/5 of our income on rent, which is allowing us to save a lot. However, our town is no where near as fun/nice as San Francisco (we went there on our honeymoon last year!)

My dog can get on any of our furniture in our house. But he knows he's not allowed in other people's houses unless he's invited. He also does not sleep in our bed when both of us are there. But if only one of us is home that night for bed, then he's allowed to sleep with that one person on the bed. He knows if we are both in bed, he needs to go to his own on the floor. Our bed's not big enough for the 3 of us!

As a couple of other people have said, I feel that purchasing a house should not be viewed as an investment. A home should be purchased as a place to live! You're "investing" in your future, in that you'll have a paid-off place to live when you want to retire... but I don't think you should ever count on a home increasing in value. Granted, in recent years, it didn't just not increase, but it decreased, which is a difficult situation. Because of this, even with all the recent incentives & tax breaks related to buying, my husband & I wont be buying a home until we know we'll be able to stay there for more than a few years.