You're obtusely ignoring the commenter's point, and I suspect you know it. You've got the mechanics a bit wrong, but the point is that your property tax, in re

You're obtusely ignoring the commenter's point, and I suspect you know it. You've got the mechanics a bit wrong, but the point is that your property tax, in real dollars, goes down YoY, as it cannot do anything but that due to Prop 13. In particular, it cannot even track the real dollar (let alone increase). This is a well-known issue and underlying cause of a number of CA's political problems, biggest of which being the housing crisis. It's further well-reported how two identical homes, in the same neighborhood, can have vastly different property tax rates, with one paying very little, and one paying a lot, because the latter is owned by someone younger such as a millennial. These are the simple mechanics of Prop 13. I'm glad you were able to raise your kids, but my generation is being screwed out of that, as we cannot break into the housing market, cannot get affordable healthcare, and cannot get meaningful real wage growth. My affordability limit as a SWE is something like $4k/mo, and homes in my market are ~$6k/mo. Either I do like the OP suggests — pay way above affordable and take on the huge risks that come with that — or I continue to rent and cannot get into a starter home from which I might start a family.