re: How did the 2008 financial crisis affect you?

Not much directly.

I bought a house at the beginning of 2009 for $179k thinking it was a steal. Houses in the neighborhood were listed for ~$200k, and mine was flipped off a foreclosure.

Two years later we needed to move and our best offer was $154k and we were expected to cover all closing costs.

The market in that area didn't fully recover until 2017 or so when we were able to sell for a whopping $5000 profit (not really a profit considering maintenance, etc over the years).