In less scary and more happy news, I had my first appointment with my new midwife this morning and heard the baby's heartbeat!

YAY! How many weeks now?

P-C, if memory serves, you have no debt at all and a ton of savings already. Buying a condo is a good idea, so long as you buy in a neighborhood that isn't likely to lose value in the next five years. You can always rent it if decide to move elsewhere. (But don't buy somewhere that is overinflated. Talk to people like Juliana said!)

I bought a condo at age 23 in CT and sold it five years later for a $50K profit. Given that the original asking price was $80K, that wasn't bad. I rolled that into my house...and then lost it all in the divorce. But that's beside the point. I hate that I can't afford to be a homeowner in SoCal. I love the security of owning a home.

That said, it is very expensive, and talking with a financial planner who is not just a mortgage broker is essential. S/he can help you to map out your long-term financial goals and help you to determine how much you actually have to put down and how much you would be spending each month in mortgage, dues, utilities, and the various repairs that always show up.

Wish I could own something. Should have bought years ago when I had a chance. Maybe. Didn't price things then so I have no idea.

My meeting was a sales pitch, which I sort of wasn't expecting. Still, it gave me a chance to go to the Farmer's Market, where I not only scored some interesting lunch, I also ran into someone I haven't seen for a bit.

I have no comprehensive new updates on my dad. He's being blasted with a lot of antibiotics, but they've only found the staph infection and still think there's something else going on. They aren't telling my mom much, I guess because they don't know much, but maybe because they're being French. When I lived there I didn't need to check out the medical system so I really can't compare. For that matter, I haven't really needed the medical system here, either. It is possible he has only a staph infection eating the bone, although you'd think they'd have come to that conclusion already. I don't know what is stumping them. They do seem to think his problem has been building for years, and just now started to really cause problems. I think he hasn't made much improvement yet as he still seems to be rather paralyzed in his arms at least.

I feel better having finally gotten the passport application in, and I am definitely going to book tickets soon for the end of September, per my mother's request. I expect he'll still be in the hospital. At least they're under the social health system and supposedly won't lose their shirts over the hospital stay but I feel so bad for both of them.

But YAY for Stephanie and heartbeat! I wish you lived closer to me so I could give you pregnancy massage. I love working with pregnant women.

I'll check them out too, juliana. Thanks.

As a rule of thumb, if you can get your housing budget to ~25% of your gross income, you'll be doing well.

You're doing freakin' miraculous, where I live.

You're doing freakin' miraculous, where I live.

And I.

{{{{d}}}}

Yay heartbeat! Yay vrooooom!

While my bro isn't local, his company is based in CA [link] and 90% of his loans are to CA residents. He knows the area and the market really well. He's just a good contact to have...to talk things through. And it's almost like you know him!

d, bone infections are really hard to get rid of, so even if it's just that, he'd likely be on antibiotics for a month or more.

As a rule of thumb, if you can get your housing budget to ~25% of your gross income, you'll be doing well.

Yeah, no shit.