I was going to talk more about me in another thread, but listening to some of your stories reminded me of my own situation, only its the opposite of my original post.
I was very fortunate during the recession. A delay in figuring out what I wanted to do in life dragged out college for me, and when I finally graduated, the DotCom bust arrived. It took awhile for me to land the job I wanted and I had a lot of debt to dig myself out of. I wasnt really ready to buy a home until around 2007, and at that point, home prices were skyrocketing and I couldnt afford where I wanted to buy. I even asked my dad for help, but he said wait housing was in a bubble and there was no point in buying at the time. I thought he was nuts. He turned out to be very right.
I will never forget driving thru the neighborhoods I dreamed of owning a home in, and seeing a for sale sign in just about every yard.
And I was fortunate. At that point I had no debt (I had just paid off the last CC), and while I lost a couple of jobs during the Great Recession, I was only out of work for maybe a total of 2-3 months during the entire time. At the beginning of the recession I was laid off, and got another job across the street two weeks later before the warn period ended. So I was actually collecting two paychecks at once, and then the 4 month severance check came in. It all went right into the savings account. When a job ended, I worked hard at getting another so I wouldn't eat into my savings. I actually had friends not work for a couple of years and are still paying for it today.
So I was fortunate to have cash at a time when many others didn't.
When I finally pulled the trigger (after 3 years of looking), I nailed an awesome house in a neighborhood I couldn't have dreamed to live in before. 4-2, big backyard, pool, 3 car garage, and the bottom of the V in prices in Feb 2012, when rates were ridiculous. You could argue its a pretty un-mustachian purchase for just me, but it wasn't like I was paying 2008 prices. I paid the same that was within my previous budget. I got very, very lucky.
But I am scarred from watching that recession unfold. I was on the outside desperately looking in at what everyone else had, and seeing all of the foreclosures and so on left a huge impression on me. The economy is doing pretty good right now, but I have a bad feeling about whats to come in the next couple of years. I have known a few people upgrading to larger homes and setting their mortgages back 10-15 years, or spending lavishly on a new kitchen and so on. I just can't help but think that some of these people will lose what they have in the next recession. So even though I didn't go through losing anything during the last one, I am paranoid about what happened to others happening to me, and it influences many of the decisions I make. It took me so much time, effort, and struggle to get what I have, I don't feel like its just any other house to me. That's probably not a healthy attitude to have either, but I am pretty bonded to it.