I didn't want to own a house this expensive; it wasn't expensive when I bought it, but over the last 4 years its gone up by almost 50 percent.

I know, I know, first world problems.

Here's the catch, ever since my wife and I paid off our house, we put a self-imposed "cap" on our income at the poverty line (for moral reasons), and had budgeted property tax into that. The problem is, that tax number keeps going up. It is a modest house, and I don't want to have to downsize or move further away from the city just to drive down that property tax bill. I've thought about building, I just don't want to wind up like this guy.

Did anyone own during the 2008 bubble?

Do any of you expect property values to plateau soon?