In places like Southern California, New York, and yes even my little Philadelphia, $500,000 doesn't necessarily buy you much of a house. Wages in such places tned to be a bit higher, but so are home prices.
I was curious how much of a tax hit people would take if the mortgage interest deduction only applied up to a mortgage of $350,000. If you took out a 30 year $500,000 mortgage at 6.2%, you'd be paying roughly 3 grand a year more in taxes in the early years of your mortgage.
