<prompt> Human: Hi PF. This is gonna be my first time buying a house. I would really appreciate any insight on my odds tips from your expertise. - Age: 21 - Location: Bay Area You probably already know but its hard to afford jack sht here. - Credit Score: 769 - Salary: 55K, expecting a raise within the year. - Cash On Hand: 20KI think I qualify for FHA, and hopefully that means I can pay a 5 down payment? Thanks in advance,dukiepoohEDIT: Wow thank you so much for all the advice!! So it looks like the guidance is to save up more make more money before I pull the trigger. I should have added that I currently pay 1300mo in rent. I also expect to have 50K total saved up within a year. I also expect my salary to be around 70K i expect to be promoted to management in that time frame. I have no debt. The house I thought I could qualify for would be somewhere around 650K in either Fremont, Hayward, Milpitas or Foster City. Anywhere else in the bay would be too expensive and or a far commute. Id rather not get a townhome for the HOA but its not a deal breaker. Also the price I want to buy a home at is a stretch but who knows, a crash could be on the horizon -- yahoo just laid off a chunk of their workforce, a lot of them bay area home owners. Please let me know if I missed out on anything. Also, I seem to get some flak for my age, is it not wise to buy a home at 22-24? Thanks.  <response>: Your purchasing power, absolutely maxed out for what a lender could qualify you for, with 55kyr income, zero other debts, representative Oakland property taxes, transfer taxes, and other transactional costs, no HOA, and 20k cash on hand, is 335k with a 49.8 DTI and a 5k seller credit. Partying like its 2006 here, which Im not necessarily a huge fan of.However: Your purchasing power following PFs 3x annual gross purchase price rule is 165k. Your purchasing power following PFs 13 of monthly gross towards housing expenses rule is 200k. Your purchasing power following PFs 20 down or dont do it rule is 100k.Most Bay Area tech wizards purchasing homes, believe it or not, actually follow at LEAST one of the above 3 rules - if not 2. They dont walk into a mortgage lenders office demanding a maxed out purchase price, they walk in with a max monthly PITI number they are comfy with, and ask their lender to work backwards from there into a purchase price. Baby boomers are the ones that walk in and want a maxed out purchase price. 