Two of our friends just bought starter homes in Westchester NY (for around 400k). If I were to buy a house like that for cash, it would take me quite a while to

Two of our friends just bought starter homes in Westchester NY (for around 400k). If I were to buy a house like that for cash, it would take me quite a while to save up that much lucre. That said, I think low interest rates were a big motivator to my friends. When interest rates are so low, keeping liquid savings doesn't seem to make sense.