[thfuran]

>even though I'm lucky in that my house has gone up a lot it doesn't actually do me any good if I want to buy again

That's only true if you want to buy again somewhere with similarly priced real estate rather than somewhere with cheaper real estate.

[SamWhited]

I mean, I'd love to buy somewhere cheaper, but that would require being even further outside of the city (and further from work) than I already am. Taking a job outside of the city means lower pay, making that place just as expensive as being sort of near, but not quite near the city. Not to mention that I'm already in a fairly cheap market (I mean, it's the Atlanta area so it's not "cheap", but it's not New York or San Francisco or what not). Trust me when I say that you can't live in (or near) the city without roommates unless you make a software salary or are very lucky.