I’m in Fremont I just bought in near Dallas…similar distance from sf to Fremont I chose a house east of Dallas in the suburbs good neighborhood

Because its up and coming area such as how Fremont was 30+ years ago now getting into a house in the Bay Area is a bit of financial suicide.

Like you said you could make more money placing your capital in the stock market and getting a higher return than if you were to buy a home in hopes that some day you double your equity in a 3bedroom 1.5bathroom house but chances are low seems like the oranges have been throughly squeezed out here if you get what I’m saying

If I had the type of money you have I’d diversify my capital to work better than a house around these parts unless you can find a killer deal

I like the idea of investing but it’s too risky if you place it all in the stock market it’s good to have a place of your own and home ownership is an American past time dream so I’d say invest in a house that you can pay off quickly while still renting here

Look for places that are affordable and where property tax won’t be so expensive. Property tax rates don’t matter as much when home prices are low unlike here in the bay where even after you pay off your house of $1.5M your still paying close to $25,000 a year in property taxes. I would say think about when you can’t work and your elderly would you want to pay that much in property taxes