"How much do houses cost where you live, btw? I don't think people would be "gambling away their houses" by giving you 15K - wouldn't that just be two or three years more of paying off the mortgage?"

Yes, I admit I was being a bit melodramatic. :)

Houses around here cost anywhere from 30K (manufactured home and a building lot) up; site-built homes start in the 60s for a small two bedroom place. I don't personally know anyone who spent more than 150K for a house within 40 miles of here, but there are a lot of ads for subdivisions "starting in the 190s" and such, now. Property values have gone way up for newly built homes, but older homes haven't appreciated proportionately. As I mentioned above, we're paying a little over 50K for ours, but we had the land given to us by relatives.

This is all totally off-topic, I suppose. Perhaps I'll point at this thread when I start hiring to explain why I'm only offering 35K salary. ;)