<p>Don't know who you are referring to. My income is 15% is about more than the median income, which is roughly $49k, and I own a house. I resent the implication that I am "dirt poor" when in fact I am in the top 35% of the U.S. population.</p>
<p>Zagat - I have a friend in L.A., single mother with 5 kids who makes $165k a year. She has mortgaged the house 5 times, each time one of the kids goes to college, and each time the equity in the house went up faster than the college bills, and she came out ahead each time. Essentially got five private college educations for free (she had two at Hamilton, one each at Vassar, Skidmore, and Macalester.) Yes, she will have to sell the house, but there's no use keeping it with 5 extra bedrooms.</p>