Hey, neighbor! I'm in Walnut Creek, and chose not to buy a house in the Bay Area - property taxes being one of the major factors. I bought in Las Vegas instead, where the taxes are about a quarter of what they are here. I'll only get to use my house part-time as long as I'm working in San Francisco, but I've been able to rent a condo in Walnut Creek at a rate far lower than my mortgage payments on it would be.
I just don't see how anyone without $250K in equity (or cash) and a net income of at least $4K a month could get into a house and remain financially solvent.
Yes, those are reasonable minimums for entry into the Bay Area market. As you point out, lenders have bent the rules beyond all reason, and a lot of folks are going to get trapped.
[Waving from Santa Clara]
How's the weather in the city, today?
I might have gone the condo route, but it doesn't work out so well with four kids. So, I'm building equity locally, instead. I actually can't complain much about my situation, because I bought back when things were still reasonable. If I had to buy my own house in today's market, I couldn't pull it off without the equity I have now. The mortgage would be around $3700 a month, plus about $600 a month for property taxes, would leave me with about $900 for everything else.
No dice.