[nostatic]

if you love the place and think you're going to live there for awhile, no worries.

I think people get too hung up on home as "investment". It only matters if you want/need to move and whether or not you can afford the payments.

And I still think that certain areas of LA aren't going to tank a lot more than they already have. Location matters. Depending on what source you believe, my ex house has dropped hard from its peak in Oct '06, but still is significantly over what we paid in '02. And I just don't see it dropping back to what we paid in '02. Location is too desirable and there are still people making money in the area. Unless we head into a depression or *really* deep recession, it should hold relatively steady.

My ex again suggested I run the numbers for buying a place (looks like she's not taking an offer down south), but in my case I don't have enough down to make an affordable monthly payment. The tax benefit is significant, but I'm living in a rent controlled apt at the moment, so it is hard to get close to that with a mortgage payment.