<prompt> Human: As the titles states, I am in the beginning stages of purchasing my first condo. The area I currently live and work in is in Orange County, California - not exactly the cheapest place in the country to be situated in. I will start with some background about myself and my income, and then jump into the details of the purchase.About me:1. Im in my mid-30s, have been a saver my whole life2. Currently in a stable salaried position approx 40k with 5k bonus potential3. Take home pay is a little over 1.1kevery other week4. Have been able to save every other paycheck since starting this position 1.5 years simply due to my spending habits5. Currently have about 35k savedAbout the condo:1. Price is 280,0002. HOA is 3403. I am using 25k, with 115k from my parents to put toward the down payment total of 140kWe are estimating the mortgage HOA utilities to be around - 1,000monthly. This would be about half of my income. I know the general rule is to spend about 25 of your income on housing, however I am thinking that because I have already been easily saving half of my paychecks without any hardship, and will have 10k liquid remaining after this purchase, it should be doable, right? Right?!So the dreamer in me thinks its possible, but the realist in me is saying Save for another 5 years at least before you make this purchase, imbecil! My reasoning for wanting to make this purchase right now is because my family is giving me this once in a lifetime opportunity to help with my down payment in a huge way, plus the cost of property only goes up and up with passing time in this region.Is it possible for me to spend about half my income on housing in my situation? If any more information is needed please feel free to ask.Assistant: Heres the calculator I used:The numbers are not adding up to me. If the price of the condo is 280K and the down payment is 140K, with a ridiculously low interest rate of just 3 which you will not get at 30 years, youd be looking at a monthly mortgage payment of 950. Thats not counting the HOA! Unless utilities are covered with the HOA, which Im guessing they are not, youre looking at closer to 1300 plus utilities. I want to clarify, I may have completely misunderstood the numbers you gave, but based on what I thought you stated and what I input into the Zillow calculator, youre way off.Just curious, how did you calculate out to 1000?Proof:EDITAlso, you mention having around 10K to play around with after tossing 25K towards the down payment. Do you have any other savings? Hypothetically, if you purchased the home tomorrow youd have just about 5-months of wages saved up in case you lost your job. Im not sure what rpersonalfinance has as their measuring stick, but I was always taught 9-12 months is the sweet spot before making any large purchases.Human: Hey uMiGa90, thank you for your helpful response! The 1000 figure was just a rough guesstimate from my mom... I am not quite sure how she came up with it either. However I did use a mortgage calculator from Bankrate that gave me a figure just over 700 not including HOA, however.I hope I did that rightSo, even if I did get the 709month mortgage, 340 HOA it would already be much over 1k monthly which is very worrisome. I know the HOA covers most of the utilities except gas I believe, but I will need to double check, however I do still have my car expenses and other things to consider. I would definitely not be able to save any money after I start paying my mortgage it seems.Hm. Thanks for this eye opener.Edit: Just as an aside, how come I would not be able to get a rate of 3? Is that just an absurdly low amount for a first time home buyer? Asking because Im really not too familiar with interest rates, thanks!Assistant: I believe your calculator doesnt take into account property taxes. If I recall correctly, in your area its right about 1.25 of the property value. Its also not taking into account home insurance which I estimated on the low side possibly as being just 67. Id strongly consider overestimating home insurance in California just because its California. : Property taxes come out to 3.5K annually, so almost 292 monthly.Take your 709.36 monthly payment, add 292 for monthly property taxes and add just 67 although, again, Id overestimate to 100 to be safe, and you get right around what I got. Somewhere around 1060 for the home plus 340 for HOA.Yeah, Id imagine not many people could get a rate of 3. It seems like wishful thinking to me.However, Id love if someone more knowledgeable about the entire situation could step in and give their input. Until then, youre stuck with me! :PHuman: Ah... buying a home is a headache hahaI do very much appreciate your advice however! In regards to the property tax, a coworker of mine told me that its a bit of a burden but you typically get it back with your tax return the following year, which didnt make it seem too bad to me. But again, maybe I am being naive about this whole thing.Thank you again for your response!  <response>: More likely their tax return happens to be his property tax and they dont actually understand how it works. You dont just get property tax back the next year. 