[Henry17]

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You seem to be a very astute investor/financially educated poster on this forum...how/why did you choose to rent vs. owning a home the last eight years ,in the BIGGEST real estate bull market in history?

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Originally I wasn't sure how long I was going to stay so renting was the correct choice.

But even if I knew I was going to stay for 8 years I still would have rented. The area is a major tech hub so when I got here real estate was over priced. When tech crashed I started to look into buying. There was nothing that matched what I was looking for. 2004 they finally built a building that matches my criteria (mostly). The units though have not appreciated at all despite the biggest real estate bull market in history.

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I am very curious,and in no way trying to question your decision,but spending $250k+ in rent,and now deciding to make another decison whether to spend ANOTHER $250k is perplexing?

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I don't see much upside to $800-1.2M condos in my city. Of the 3 projects that have units in that price range all of them have units that have never been lived in despite being on the market for 3-4 years. With a 4th upmarket building in the works I can't see enough demand for this particular type of real estate in this specific location. I figure if it meets inflation that would be the best I could expect.