<prompt> Human: Were hoping to start a family in 2019 which prompts us to want to live in a nicer place and community than we currently do weve tended to err on the side of budget friendly over amenities. Rents for a slightly upgraded home run roughly 500 less to the same price as what a mortgage payment would be. Personally, Im dealing with some home sickness being away from family the last couple of years since moving to the Bay. We both come from another HCOL area that is just not ideal for our careers, so I need to come to terms with the idea that living near my family isnt feasible. I anticipate it to be highly probable that we stay in whatever home we purchase for at least 5 years. Another consideration is the real possibility of losing all or part of my income to stay at home with the kids. I dont think I would be able to stay home sanely as a full time parent for very long, so I dont know if I should plan for this regardless of my current feelings. Losing my income entirely would leave an estimated 1.5-2k left over for other expenses after the mortgagetax payment.x200B;Assuming we were able to pay down our current debt and recoup a fair bit of savings, would it be silly for us to get a home in the range were looking at?x200B;Info on us:- Husband and I early 30s are recently married, dated 7 years- 300k combined annual salary, not including stocks- Maxed 401k above annual 18,500 with employer contributions- Our only debt: 30k on Credit Cards from the wedding yea... we didnt save for the wedding. Not smart. Its getting paid down pretty quickly current projections show it to be paid off by December or January 2019- Own 2 older vehicles. Will likely replace one of these vehicles when kids happen down the line.- Emergency fund - Technically Nada no formalized Emergency fund. Weve never really taken active measures to set aside money for an emergency fund as theres usually a size-able surplus in our accounts until the wedding- Edit bullet point: The wedding honeymoon expensive location for both cost 110k. 200 people, open bar, in California wine country, Everything from the dress, to rings, to rental cars, to flights upgraded on international leg, tours. Was it a budget event? Some of it was. Would it have been cheaper to go to a courthouse or keep it small? Of course. We really were fighting to keep costs down the whole way through and we still ended on a high number though not relative to other weddings in the area.x200B;Housing Stats:- Current Rent: 2500, in a place were not really a fan of other than location for ease of commute. Biggest cons include being next to a loud freeway and the unit being minimally updated since it was constructed in the 1960s.- Down payment: the 20 will almost exclusively come from exercised stock options. Advice on this is appreciated. Weve been advised that taking the higher capital gains hit Roughly 8 would not fall under the higher capital gains hit and using it as a down payment is more valuable than keeping it wrapped up in a single potentially volatile source.- House Budget: 900k-1m A 950k home would equate to a 5100 mortgage tax payment. We would optimize for good schools with a reasonable-ish commute to San Francisco via Bart thinking Walnut Creek, Lafayette, Danville, San Ramon. Unfortunately, a 900k-1m house if you can get your offer accepted means youre almost assuredly getting a fixer- Lender: Currently approved for up to 1.5million. Ive always communicated to the lender that were not interested in spending more than 1m so Ive never been told what the upper bound is other than a quick remark about 1.5m or more not being an issue. Obviously not going to go anywhere near that upper bound.x200B;Thanks in advance for any advice andor suggestions!x200B;Edit:Important detail missed: The heftier salary of the two puts 20 of each paycheck into a company organized ESPP program some of our combined vested stock. Weve been doing this for a while and things are seemingly going well. This is where the down payment will come from and represents enough financial benefit that if we would choose to do this and things continue to stay up-and-to-the-right wed have more than enough to pay off the house in full in 2 years.x200B;Thanks for taking the time to point out some painfully obvious flaws on our end. Were going back to the drawing board as weve long taken for granted that we can exist without thinking about our financial situation.  <response>: Where does that 300k salary go if you have nada emergency fund and older cars? You dont have a down payment, so it seems either you live a super lavish lifestyle, or own vintage Ferrari daily drivers.I think the general personal finance advice is to save for the 20 downpayment, or at least get closer. The stock options youll want to exercise but hold for one year before selling to avoid the capital gains tax, unless your in a hurry you could eat that tax but up to you. 