If you get a fixed-rate loan, you don't have to worry about that.

Fixed rate loans are only fixed for very short periods like 2-3 years, so how is this relevant? And they then usually turn into really bad interest rates when they expire, and you'd have to remortgage in a bad market.

You have to pay lawyers fees, surveying fees, taxes, realtor fees, etc. when you buy a house, if you only have it for 2-3 years you have to factor all those into the monthly costs too.

No, you can get fixed loans that are fixed for the life of the loan. And you usually should when interest rates are low, because ARMs in that case usually have little room to adjust down and a lot of room to adjust upward when indexes riser, which they are nearly certain to significantly when you buy near the historic bottom, so even with the premium on the starting interest rate, fixed rate loans are better in the long run.

Where do you live? 15-year and 30-year fixed rate mortgage loans are available pretty much everywhere in North America.

Interest rates go up, your home value goes down.

Historically both real estate prices and interest rates are procyclical. Central banks raise rates when inflation becomes too fast (which is closely correlated to house price appreciation).

But of course you can sometimes have a local economic decline while the currency area is experiencing overheating and high inflation.

Agree, but as long as Chinese money is seeking sanctuary as quickly as it is, I don't see any sign of SFBA real estate cooling off.

Sure. That's a real risk. There are probably much bigger risks to worry about, like the market crashing again or losing your job. The risk of interest rates going high enough to significantly push home prices down seems really small for the next several years.

30 year fixed rate.