While I regret that I chose to buy in this crazy market, in some ways I am glad that my wife and I had spent the last couple of years in a lower cost rental to save money, make decisions, determine what we wanted in a home and location. We are in a dream home for us, could very well be our forever home, in a desirable suburb outside of an economically sound city, in a top school district, in walking distance to restaurants and bars and shops.

I also refused to look at the purchase as a purely financial investment and decided on the factors that were important for our quality of life and made decisions on what value we place on those items (the walkability, schools, home layout, etc.) Once we decided on those factors, our budget, etc. then we went after what we wanted and just took it as fact that the houses cost what they cost right now and thinking about how we should have acted sooner, or what will we do if the market reverses next week isn't going to improve our quality of life.

We then bought the house that fit our needs best by playing the insane market games going on right now. Now that we're in it, I can't say that I am upset that we may have overpaid a few grand. It appraised save for $5k, so we're happy.