“...but MY house is worth half of what it was 5 years ago already”
That’s because you overpaid. I left California (for Texas) rather than buy-in at those prices. I knew it was going to collapse and it did, UNDER BUSH.
I didn’t say that was what I PAID for. Fact is we paid it off in 15 years. Still, I couldn’t get near what the tax man claims.