patrick.net

says

Yes, everyone should consider avoiding acquisition of an asset that has consistently increased in value over time. Especially in very desirable markets. It makes no sense whatsoever to purchase a home for your family. And no, you are not being overly paranoid about losing your job. Everyone is getting laid off these days. The labor market is absolutely terrible. Unemployment is rising very fast. The new presidential administration does not want to focus on economic nationalism, jobs, growth, or any of that. This admin wants to ship all of the jobs to China, who they have claimed is a very fair trade partner.

Life Sucks!
What do we do guys? What do we do?

ThreeBays says

However, in a rising property environment, which is the majority of the time in CA, you are in a race to save 20%. When prices are rising $100k a year, it makes sense to prioritize buying asap, then focus on your other goals.

That's a hard one. Best case you can get mommy and daddy money for help with the down payment. If you're in the price point where it's rising $100k a year, you're going to be chasing for a while unless you've got low cap gain income. If you're a W-2 employee with high wages it makes this even more difficult. Or put another way, are you going to pay the federal government 28, 33, 35 or 39.5 percent to get after tax dollars for the down payment?

If you can't get your 20% down and still max out a 401K, you're chasing the wrong dream then most likely. Just keep saving and renting. Or you could very likely get a comparable salary, likely less of course, in flyover country where you can get way more for your money. Or at least the down payment is affordable. At some point the cap gains on a house gets maxed out. My guess would be a $600k purchase price at age 32 and you sell at 59 with close to $500k in gains, tax free. Once you get over that amount of cap gains for real estate, you can get similar tax rates with stocks or other investments. And I always go back to a house not being a burden on you. The lower the payment the better in my book. So after a certain point, trying for a high appreciating house gets risky.

Most people won't see it the way I do. They want to own a home. I don't have a problem with this to be honest. It's just not that logical in most circumstances. I didn't do it logically to start with myself, so I don't have much of a pulpit to preach from.

ThreeBays says

After buying I built a more aggressive portfolio. Also got a lot more money into Roth retirement accounts and HSA.

That's the way to do it. Forgot about HSA's as well, good point.