Houses are great and all cause you own it (well sort of, paying off a mortgage), but unless you get a new build that's made by a notshit company you'll be getting screwed with repair work. Old houses have issues that the previous owner didn't feel like fixing, or that they made worse by trying to fix, or things break while you live there, and all that costs money. If the house is over ten years old you probably expect to put in about $5k in maintenance every year on top of mortgage, insurance, and taxes. Not to dissuade people from buying, but people overlook those costs a lot. I put thousands into my last house and it still needed a few thousand more in work when I sold it. But yeah, it's rough out here. A chicken quesadilla from Taco Bell is over $5. Pizzas are around $15, burgers are pricey too. Cars still cost a lot, phones cost a ton, ain't nothing cheap anymore