Post-COVID / Lockdown / Policy has really impacted my life

It is very simple. Wait and save. The more you save up, the less you have to borrow. The longer you wait, the more options you will have as market conditions moderate and interest rates eventually come back down.

The other alternative is to move. There are plenty of places in the Midwest and mid Atlantic states where prices are reasonable and there isn't that much competition among buyers. The burbs in Cleveland, OH have great schools and lots of reasonably priced homes. The further out you go, the more land you can get as the burbs give way to more rural areas.

That's probably what I'll end up doing, and hopefully there's some kind of modest correction in the market. Everyone screams that this won't happen, but no one knows anything.

Online and in person, I have always been a very open person, although some see it as bragging, it is not. You have one story, I have another. I believe I've been in your spot, but now I'm in mine.

Covid changed my life too. Best thing that ever happened to me. Now, I want to be clear that while Covid was an unmitigated tragedy in every way you look at it, from all of the deaths to neighbor hating neighbor, but fact is, some of us came out ahead.

I'm 49 now, and have a great life. In late 2019, by sheer luck, I decided to sell my house in the 'burbs and go to a condo in bigger downtown city. I closed on my house (selling) Feb 14 2020...One month later, covid lockdown.

March 2020 I started working at home (Software Eng), and by the following year it was made 100% permanent.

In Jan 2021, after the year of riots and covid downtown, we decided to leave the condo and buy a house in the country. Jan 2021 coincidentally the lowest rates have ever been. I didn't know that was as low as they would go, I wanted out of the hell that downtown had become.

The house we bought has a tragic backstory, a newly retired couple owned it (and built it), but one was killed in a car accident in late 2020 and the other didn't want to stay in the house, so he sold it himself and at a loss. At the height of the market I paid less than the asking price, and at 2.7% interest. I put only 50k down on a 460k house. I had PMI sure, but even with mortgage, PMI, and insurance, my payment is sub 2500/mo for 5000sq ft house with finished basement, 2 acres. HOA with private 14 acre lake and paved 1km path around it.

So now I have a beautiful property (farmland behind me) and I never have to leave the house unless I want. I feel like I pay next to nothing for this considering my income and my wife's income. This is the American Dream and I did manage it, while I understand most will not.

I grew up extremely destitute, my mom left me and my siblings in 1979 when I was 5 years old. My father was a construction worker and did his best, but even right now he is a nearly destitute alcoholic who still thinks chasing women is the only thing in life.

Yet here I am, living the dream and largely by luck, although I believe being prepared and not being afraid to make a change is more important.

The moral of the story is to keep trying and make the changes you need to make to get a better life. I have taken many small steps back, and sometimes you have to, so you can make that big leap when opportunity arises.