Market value is quite likely unaffordable for someone with an entry level job and loan payments in Portland, Oregon, which has one of the biggest crunches on affordable housing in the nation. The writer may need to reassess whether teaching a young adult stepdaughter to be "independent" is worth potentially pushing her into decades of poverty. Independent living is a cultural value of middle-class white America, not a universal truth. While not living under the same roof as the stepdaughter might be good for the writer, it may well be better for the young woman than the alternative. So all parties need to take a look at what they really want to achieve, what they will settle for, and what they are or are not willing to draw the line despite the wants/needs of people they consider family.