In the Bay Area, you're looking at 3% of at least $1 million. Your annual property taxes (In San Jose) on that USD$1m will be on the order of $14,000. Your mor

In the Bay Area, you're looking at 3% of at least $1 million. Your annual property taxes (In San Jose) on that USD$1m will be on the order of $14,000. Your mortgage payment with a 10% mortgage will be another $4,255/month. That's $65,000/yr just to hold the house, with insurance adding another $3k (earthquake insurance!). Don't forget a maintenance budget of 1%/yr! Additionally, you're going to be spending ~$8,500 in tax and fees just to close. To repeat, if 3% is going to make or break your ability to buy the house, you can not afford that house. Imagine what happens when it drops 10% in value? What happens if it drops 10% in value, you need to move and market rents don't cover your mortgage[1]? The Bay Area has 30% swings from peak to trough, 10% is (slightly exaggerating) the peak to trough swing in a single year. I never said that people who chose to go without an agent were stupid. I said agents were there to keep you from making stupid mistakes - but that was my experience. I had no concept of what the prices were in the area, or how to deal with selling agents who didn't want to close. The agent talked my partner down off the ledge a couple of times. However, that doesn't mean that other people shouldn't consider managing their own purchase or sale. My comment was purely around the statement that saving 3% would allow you to buy a home. [1] SF rent - https://medium.com/@mccannatron/1979-to-2015-average-rent-in-san-francisco-33aaea22de0e https://medium.com/@mccannatron/1979-to-2015-average-rent-in...