I'm amazed at how my coworkers, 99% of whom are less than half my age, live in $1k/month apartments, drive Lexus/BMW/Corvettes/Camaros, etc, have student loans, go on cruises and European vacations, and re-enroll in school at Vanderbilt of all places (very VERY pricey tuition), but they also make half my hourly pay after my 20 years experience (I'm almost topped out). My house is paid off and the only debt I have is our new car. Yet, I can't afford all those vacations, I'm saving up to pay cash for a new roof, yes I drive a Lincoln but it's not as expensive as one would think, and my commuter car has 250K miles on it all put on by me. Maybe they're printing money in the basement. Then all those young couples on HGTV with $2M budgets.....I want to know what they do for a living!
I looked up home values in my area a few weeks ago and was utterly shocked! If someone offered me what the internet said my house is worth, I'd take it and RUN! But, like said above, I believe it's all about to change and not for the better.