<prompt> Human: I posted something similar a few days ago but didnt get any responses--adding more detail to this one. Market: Washington DC suburbs Me: 26, 30kyr, with realistic income trajectory of 2 every year for the next 5-10 years basically cost of living raise. Him: 24, 40kyr, with probable bump of 10k20k in the next two years provided he gets certain certifications. After that Im not sure of income trajectory. No debt, about 10k savings, with possible 20k bump if his parents help us out. Because we sublet our apartment, our current cost of living is very low--we are on track to save up an additional 50k in the next 12 months. Income trajectories are conservative--I could leave my current position and hunt for something more lucrative, but that may or may not happen so I went with the most realistic prediction. The problem is that housing in our city is rising at about 4 a yr, and we are afraid of being priced out of the market if we dont buy soonish. And unfortunately, the greater DC area is only expected to add about half the needed housing units to keep up with population growth. So I dont see prices going down anytime soon. We are primarily looking at condos under 350,000. Thing is, we are still young mobile--both of us are looking at grad school, potentially in other cities. Our careers are still in their early stages; we arent really ready to settle down. But both of our families are in this city, and theres a good chance that even if we left, we would come back eventually. The thing that scares us is if DC pulls a SF--becomes completely unaffordable in the years we are away. Already, we are constricted to the very cheapest properties in the market. Pros:-Building equity instead of paying rent. -Rental market is strong--even if we did have to leave for grad schooltemp job, we could easily rent out the property -Strong personal professional ties to DC -beating housing appreciation Cons: -Condo Fees all houses are already out of our reach -Potentially cutting ourselves off from new opportunities in new cities -not really ready to buy--we would prefer to save up stay mobile for a few more years. Is there an investment vehicle that would grow at 4 or more, but stay liquid enough that we could pull our money asap if we find the right property? That would be ideal. Edited for formattingEdit 2: Just to clarify, we actually arent looking at DC proper--we both work in the Virginia burbs; if we buy it will be in the AlexandriaFalls Church area.Assistant: Dont buy out of fear, but if you can afford the mortgage payments without any additional renters, I say go for it. After that you can always move, rent it out, and someone else will essentially pay your mortgage for you. Theres obviously additional costs to this property manager, fixing shit, etc, but if you can afford to pay the mortgage without any rental income, this should be an excellent investment.Do, however, also consider that owning a home can be a huge headache, even if it is saving you money in the long run. I also live in DC, and despite the rental market being strong, being able to afford a home, and potentially savingmaking a lot of money, I have foregone buying a home so that I can balance my workfamily life without the headache of being a homeowner.Human: you can always moveUnless the real estate market collapses again and you go underwater on your mortgage, then its not quite so simple.Assistant: CopyPaste from a previous comment:DC is a weird city...because of the large federal workforce, its mostly insulated from economic shocks that affect the rest of the country. During the housing crisis, prices in the city actually rose 1. We are not federal workers, but the size of the federal workforce and their compensation is mostly what sets housing prices in this area.To my knowledge, the last housing shock in DC was back in the 90s, when Clinton cut down the federal workforce. That is unlikely to happen though, because the federal workforce is currently at its smallest relative to the population in living memory.Human: This is inaccurate. Home prices in DC fell like 20 between late 2007 and early 2010. Assistant: While they fell 20 for the entire metro region, prices within the district proper didnt budge. Certain neighborhoods did fall, but they were balanced out by places like Foxhall where prices continued to climb.  <response>: Yes, they fell 20 in the exact areas youre considering. 