<prompt> Human: Status: Male, late 20s, marriednbsp; City: Los Angeles yes, cost of living is high, but its currently the best city for us due to the nature of our work and my wifes entire family is herenbsp; Current housing situation: Rent 1 bedroom 600 sq. ft. apartment for 1350 per month in a VERY desirable neighborhood; its way under market value and rent controlled, so weve already been in this place for 5 years; there are no new amenities and building itself generally needs very frequent repairing due to plumbing and other issuesnbsp; Combined annual income: 116,000 we work in fields that dont generally provide reliable pay increases, but theres a chance wed move up the ladder more quickly than anticipated; also, one of us were to get laid off--which has already happened to me--I worry that wed have to take a job at a fairly substantial lower annual incomenbsp; Net monthly income: approximately 6,400 after taxes, insurance deductions, and 5-6 401k contributions eachnbsp; Monthly debts: no student loans or car payments I own a 2007 Corolla and she owns a 2012 Priusnbsp; Monthly expenses: I can list these if it would be helpful, but my main concern right now is that the debt to income ratio alone is enough to be the deciding factor.nbsp; Credit Scores: We should both fall into the Excellent category of 750760 and above listed on most calculatorsnbsp; TL;DR - Issue at hand: My wife wants us to consider buying a 1 bedroom condo in our current neighborhood thats almost 600K. HOA fee alone is 740month. I am able to put down 20 deposit but that would eat up 75 of my savings. All in all I think: this would saddle us with too much debt and instability now, the cost of upgrading is not worthwhile, and it would hamper our ability to buy something better in the future.nbsp; Help! Even though Im looking at a ton of articles and calculators wiki and elsewhere, relevant threads here, and so on, would anyone be able to chime in with some feedback? I want to discuss this further with my wife and I think some first hand accounts or analysis would be extremely helpful, especially if they dont happen to align with my reasoning.nbsp;___Ive been a lurker here for a long time so Ive read a lot of threads that have made me extremely financially cautious and overly logical. My default point of view right now is that properties in Los Angeles are insanely high its a false sense of reality, imo and ownership would not be financially prudent for us. Older, unattractive homes in our neighborhood are 1 million minimum, no pool, barely any yard space, some are just one car garage, and they may need interiorexterior renovations. Its all location, location, location. ___The thing that started this conversation is a listing my wife found: fully renovated 1 bedroom condo approximately 800 sq. ft. in our same neighborhood for 575,000. I actually think its undervalued and there could be multiple bids over asking price. Building has a gym, pool, BBQ area, garage, etc. According to the online listing, HOA fees are 740 per month. As a result of family inheritance I can put down the 115K deposit and clear the 20 mark, but that would eat up about 75 of my savings. My wife currently has no liquid savings as she paid off her school loans aggressively. ___To me a mortgage of 400-500K appears to be totally out of the question given our income and savings. As far as this particular listing and circumstances, wed be getting about 200 extra sq. ft., beautiful interior, and building amenities. My wife is currently more inclined to own an apartment rather than a home based on personal preferences, but one of my arguments is that this living space itself doesnt allow for any anticipated growth kids, work space at home, etc.nbsp;The current HOA fee of 740 per month is already more than half of our rent right now. I think any mortgage, whether 1530 year fixed or ARM, on top of that would push our monthly housing cost to roughly 3000. Then factor in homeowners insurance and property taxes, which Im not entirely sure how to estimate. nbsp;All in all I think: this would saddle us with too much debt and instability now, the cost of upgrading is not worthwhile, and it would hamper our ability to buy something better in the future.  <response>: Property taxes would be 1 annually, or 500month. Add a minimum of 100 for insurance, and youre looking at 3600month.Thats over half your take-home pay. Thats a terrible idea for all kinds of reasons. 