not really, once you have kids in picture its a whole different math. also the whole buying vs renting thing. to drive the seriousness of this home, Elizabeth warren did a study back when she was a prof & found that for every 10 point deviation from median in school performance house prices went up by 20 points.
Just because you do not like the choices that are available to you does not mean such choices do not exist. I have a child so I know all about the different math. We could still choose to live in a small apartment in the city. Some people do that because they want to; others, because they have to.
Yeah the amount of influence you have is very minimal, especially when you consider changing jobs, are you supposed to move each time you do? I think that is an often claimed adage (like the whole trickle down effect one) that is much less true in reality.
