[Tweety]

Great post. Really appreciate the wisdom.

I guess my wife and I are just sick of being renters and want to be owners. Maybe this is a mistake. We've held off on buying for a while and don't feel like this has paid off really.

I do have a pretty good job. I have done pretty well in the past few years but am looking at a significant income upgrade this year (get paid the bonus in Jan of 08), so I have the problem of having to convince boards that my incomes in 05 and 06 don't look anything like what my income in 07 will look like. My boss and I have already talked about compensation and we both know more or less the ballpark of what it's going to be, but he can't legally guarantee something in a letter to a board, due to legal issues. My only out here would be to strong-arm him and the firm in general to guaranteeing me something (with a threat to quit if they don't), but that is not something I want to do as I've been treated well there so far and have a very good relationship with senior management.

So basically that's where things are. Maybe I should just rent another year and then look again in 08 with the higher income profile that I'll bring to the table, but we just had our first baby a few months ago and the wife is getting antsy for an upgrade, and quite honestly i dont blame her.