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Thanks to the largesse of my friend, I will have enough money for a 3% down payment towards property in the beginning of 2009. Thanks to the credit crunch, banks are asking for 20% down or maybe 10%, but I qualify for ACORN and CalHFA so I only 3%. Sweet. I'm pretty excited about getting my own place. Unfortunately, it'll mean moving a bit more east and having a longer commute to work, but it'll be nice not to have to piss away rent. I'm sure it'll be pretty annoying too since I'll have to take care of stuff that I don't normally have to worry about, but I'm ready to be neighbor-free. I might get a townhouse instead. That's sort of like a real house, but then someone else has to do the landscaping and whatnot. We'll see.