That happened twice during the time that I had the card. Another time they had a computer error and closed my account randomly. They could not figure out how to reopen it, so I ended up opening a new account and getting a new card, again. So in the span of two years I had four cards issued.
What are you looking for in a house? My wife and I just purchased a 650K house in the metro-Boston area. 650K is pretty entry for a place that isn't falling apart in any decent town around Boston.
You work for EMC ;-p? You should be fine to find a house in the 300-500 range then which meets your needs. Wife and I were restricted to Boston and surrounding towns due to her working in Harvard/Kendall Square.
Not a big fan of mixing friends and money. That said, before we even went to the mortgage broker (who I would talk to before talking to an agent, since he's the one you're going to hammer out price range with) my wife had spent a few months combing realtor sites looking at homes. It gave us a very very good feeling for what we could realistically expect for our price range, wrt footage, lot size, and extras. Ideally you'll want to be able to put at least 20% down to skip out on PMI (mortgage insurance). It's just a fee that's absolutely pointless to pay if you have the ability not to. Plus (duh) the more you put down the less you'll pay in interest. (this is where you'll get people saying stuff like "but you could invest the difference instead and make far more!" and if you're part of the 0.01% of Americans who actually invest and are good at it, it's even true)
Living in the areas you mentioned is just silly as far as cost of living goes. The reason I still live on the East Coast is to inflate my salary, pump up my 401(k) (due to company matching) and buy performant rental properties so I can move to a cheaper place (like where you live) later in life and live like a king. As you said, salaries are typically 15-45% higher here, but cost of living is 65%+ higher, the ratios are off.
Depends on the specific industry. The more hardware oriented, the harder it is to find remote work. My current employer won't even let me remote in from home on weekends.
Since you are buying a house, you aren't paying an agent. The only thing that can sour your relationship is if your friend half asses it and doesn't try to find you houses that you want because hey, we're friends and I can take it easy.
