...and you thought Tysons had traffic now.

[.RJ]

You're mostly all renting with other people right? So if you find a few renters you can significantly reduce your monthly mortgage payments.

Lee, RTFT Thats why I used $2350/$600k in my little java calculator.

Renting out some rooms is a great way to cover your mortgage cost, but you still have to be able to afford the place on your own. If the house next to the one we are going to rent was selling for $400k ($2400/mo for a 30 yr loan @ 6%) , then I'd look pretty hard at buying and then rent 2 rooms out.

As long as you have stable renters or a wifey / fiance you'll probably end up paying as much as your monthly rent for a mortgage payment plus you're enjoying the benefits of homeownership.

If you have stable renters AND a wife, MAYBE. Big maybe. The mortgage on the place we're looking at renting would be ~$3600/mo.

You won't see me ever throwing away 800+ bucks a month to rent somewhere though

How much are you going to "throw away" on property taxes, HOA, interest, etc when you buy though? Thats the entire point of the discussion. Buying is a lot more complicated than just "writing a check to yourself every month". I know your perception is going to be a bit skewed since you sell new homes, but try not to let the blur your vision I'm just looking at the hard numbers here.