<prompt> Human: I am a 27 year old female who lives alone in an apartment in downtown Miami. I am a first time home buyer trying to buy a townhouse in Plantation in western Broward County, a suburban and less expensive county next to Miami. I currently rent for 1320 for a 11. However, I am renting from my parents who bought the place as a short sale a few years ago for 170k, and put in about 30k in renovations. I am very thankful for them helping me get started after college. I now make 50k a year, and I dont spend a lot of my money. Not including rent, my necessary bills like cargasgroceries come to about 800 a month. I cook every day and pack my lunches. In the area I am looking, I found a townhouse that is not renovated but seems clean and liveable. It is a foreclosure and there is an auction on Saturday. It is listed for 155K and is a 22 from 1986. After attempting to plug numbers in, this seemed like a reasonable amount. But after getting a pre-approval for a mortgage loan, they estimated I would be paying about 1700 a month after adding the interest, HOA of 331, taxes, etc.This seems unreasonably high in my opinion. How can buying an older foreclosured unrenovated townhouse out on the suburbs be so unaffordable? I believe I make good money, I have an 800 credit score, a retirement and investment account, no college loans, no kids, and low bills. I am doing my best but it doesnt seem like buying a house is ever attainable at this rate. I dont know how people worse off than me live. If I rented it would take me forever to save enough for what I need, and by then rates would go up. I am trying to be responsible and buy a cheaper place so I can start saving more and having this as an investment. But at that cost I will be using all my money to pay for my living. Forget upgrading my car, ever going on vacation, barely having enough for fun things, having kidspets, building a decent savings, etc. Am I being realistic with my goals, am I asking for too much, or is this just how bad things have become in this country?  <response>: Jesus, assuming you financed the full 155k that mortgage payment would 740 at a 4 interest rate. So what they are telling you that after the HOA fee, which as you can see is more than 50 of the mortgage payment, your taxes and insurance would contribute another 600 roughly? I agree with uhogfin : That HOA is out of control and I would tell them to GTFO with that. 