A lot of people pay more than that in taxes. But I think the best way to buy a house is to just write a check for it! :)

Here is a small success story. My youngest daughter wanted to buy a house 2 years ago but just got out of college, never held a "regular" job(she had been a bartender for a few years while in school) While she was a bartender she didn't understand that the bank will only give you credit for income that you pay taxes on. And on top of all of that she moved here to Nashville to be with the rest of the family so she had a new job. Needless to say the bank wasn't giving her anything to buy a house with and she had no savings. Not a good situation but she is a responsible person so she turned to the "Bank of Dad". We found her a HUD foreclosure that she got for $80K and spent another $10K on the rehab in an area that used to be a lot of rentals but was just getting a new subdivision of 3200 houses and a shopping mall. She sold the house herself and closed last week for $130K. Paid off the Bank of Dad (WHEW!!!) and stuck $40K in her 26 year old pocket! Oh yeah - the reason she sold her house is that she works for BB Kings Bar here and is being transferred to a new property in Orlando FL as a manager with vague promises of being made a general manager in the near future.

Here is the question - did I really waste that $80K on her college education???