In most of the country, $250,000 is quite a nice house. Let your mind think outside the Bay Area every now and again.

I just did a search in the most distant Chicago suburb I could name off the top of my head, and this was the closest I could come to exactly $250:

http://www.trulia.com/property/31925157-723-Tiller-St-Elburn...

What do you suppose that would run you in, say, Los Gatos?

Try coming to the midwest. That buys a pretty good size house.

It's not the half to buy the primary residence which sparked the comment.

It's the half which is expected to be invested in income producing property.

I once worked as a city planner.

If you are ever around people who enforce housing standards, you will learn that absentee landlords correlate with problematic rental property.

There is also tends to be a correlation between what people view as acceptable rental housing management and the culture in which they were raised.

There is no Valley bias in my post...I've always lived in the South East.