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The $375K mortgage will be 15 years at 2.75% interest. Because I can't afford to pay a mountain of principle & a mountain of interest, I have to structure it so I'm paying a mountain of principle and a small hill of interest.

Is this affordable? It's 4.1x my income, 27% of my income goes to housing. In England, CA, RE is up to 7x income & the rule of thumb is 50% of income to house means you're distressed.

Moving from condo to townhouse is about $500 extra expense & about $12k a year "forced" savings

Is this a Two Income Trap? Sort of. The wife doesn't work right now, but was planning to resume working anyhow. A second income makes a huge difference. If society can't build more houses, then only the the childless or dual incomes can "afford"

Was there a cheaper house? Yes, in places like Hagerstown, MD, but there are also cheaper homes in Guatemala City. If I want my kids to grow up to be as successful as I am, ignoring why Hagerstown is cheap is a nonstarter (schools, regional wages, etc)

Is it an investment & is affordable because of the future flip? Sort of. The two futures:
- I live in it for free as my earning start to falter in old age
- I sell it for 1.2 million in 15 years, which is a bet that RE prices outpace inflation, which in the long run, it does not

(RE doesn't outpace inflation?! Yes, you are an ant on a sloping curve with peaks and valleys in the distance, you can't see that the extremely long trend is RE assets match inflation, no more no less.)

* footnote, also involves a 4-6 month, $150K bridgeloan from the mother-in-law, without which, this deal would even less favorable.

So the call to action is to tell your state & local governments to allow more high-density housing. The never-build-anything-anywhere NIMBISM is distorting our decisions & economy to revolve around the goal of never building housing again.