I would love to buy a house, was saving and planning to do so ten years ago, then prices started to skyrocket and never went down. One story mold ridden shacks

I would love to buy a house, was saving and planning to do so ten years ago, then prices started to skyrocket and never went down. One story mold ridden shacks with 2 rooms and 1.5 baths going for $400k+ here in Oregon because I can’t compete with all the people with money fleeing California. Especially after the fires a few years ago that created emergency demand for house and less wood to build them. Sure, had I gone full throttle into a house back then, I could pat myself on the back right now, but at that point my employment wasn’t anywhere near as much of a certainty, and money was sit tight so the wisest thing to do with the information I had was wait a few years. While I think things may be slightly better now and I need to do my yearly review of how things are, for most people getting stable enough to do anything other than split rent is out of reach. I’m one of the few people I know that could stop working and not be out on the street in 3 months. I’m fortunate in that at least I have a pension I’ve been putting into over the matched amount all this time.