<prompt> Human: Hello PF.For the past 15 years, weve been in an old house and not financially in order. With some financial counseling and career changes weve been doing pretty well.For the past 4 years, our income has been growing. We netted around 200k in 2017 and on track to net around the same if not a little more in 2018.We could sell our current house in a not so great neighborhood and with the equity to put down 20 on a 1M house in Orange County, Ca.What we were thinking , is that the housing market is always rising in OC and even if we fall on hard times and need to let the house go, we would profit from the equity and downscale to a smaller house. Plus we would eventually sell the house once the kids are out theyre in their late teens so its not too far away and live in a comfortable townhouse.We did the math and we can afford the monthly mortgage.Our current mortgage is 2k a month.If we buy the new house, our new mortgage would be around 5500 includes taxes, HOA, etc. and have approx 1k left after all other personal expenses and bills.Another scenario is to accept a 200k gift from a family member, use that as the down payment for the 1M house and keep our current as income property. Or should we use that gift to pay off our current mortgage and live mortgage free for a while and save?I worry if I dont make a purchase in the OC, we will eventually get priced out of the market. Ive seen prices in new developments go up 100k within a year. Its nuts over here.  <response>: the housing market is always risingIncorrect. Remember the housing bubble and crash in 2008. Plus, any number of things can cause your value to go down. Meth dealer moves in next door, crime spike, environmental issue, natural disaster, economic issues, fire, water leak, HOA nazis, etc.You said you recently were not doing financially well, and only made 200k only one year. Why the hurry to go into debt for a house? What if you lose your job, income, sales? Why take that risk? If youre truly going to net 200kyr whats wrong with waiting 5 years and paying cash and saving money on unnecessary interest? Is it truly worth risking everything and losing interest money to buy a house now instead of later? 