The market was going up. In late 2012 that wasn't even debateable. If the market went lower, it meant World War 3 had started or something along those lines. Rates were also at all time lows, which saves you hundreds a month.
I lived there and I was very strict with who I got as roommates/renters. Sure, in a theoretical world one of them may have done a complete 180 on life and decided to blow up my house? That's irrational thinking though. Two professionals in their mid 20s who have never been partiers aren't just going to decide to fuck my shit up.
Losing my job? I explained that already to someone else. I am too good at what I do and it's too specialized. Even if my company somehow went completely under, I'd have offers from our rivals immediately.
Injury? My insurance is pretty damn good. It'd have to be an injury of a magnitude that would make me unable to work ever again. If that happened... my home isn't even a concern anymore because my life is ruined.
If I did somehow lose my income in this magic fairytale of yours, I could have rented out 3 rooms instead of 2 (I liked the extra space) and only been paying about 200 a month for everything. So yeah, not a problem anyway.
I mean I get that for MOST people, this is a poor decision, but for me is was an obvious one once I did the math.
The annoying part here is that you have no clue about what position I am in. You feel that you can make a blanket statement for the entire population of this country. That is just stupid. You're trying to simplify something is not the least bit simple. The even better part is that my job requires me to figure this shit out on a daily basis. I know the market, rates, ROI, financing, math, and everything else in this industry far better than you do. Yet you still feel as if you have ground to stand on here based on... a blanket statement that must apply to 300 million people because you said so and know everything.