<prompt> Human: Hey rpersonalfinance, like the title says, Im looking into buying my first home, but Im having trouble figuring out what I can afford. Currently Im making 61k a year before bonus overtime, but to err on the side of caution let say Im only making 61k pretax and have no debt. I currently work in the San Francisco Peninsula, and Im looking to buy a house in that area.nbsp;Ideally, I would like to get a 2 or 3 bedroom, as I have several friends who are interested in renting a room from me yes theyre financially responsible, yes Ive lived with them before so I know were good matches as roommates but when Im looking at any 2 or 3 bedrooms in the area even in... less desirable neighborhoods it seems that everything starts at 500k. From what I can tell, using a CalFHA loan for a down payment, and then pay for closing costs out of pocket, it would give me a mortgage somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.6k a month roughly 3 weeks post-tax income. While I could technically pay that on my own if I kept a tight budget, if I had roommates paying rent it seems to me that this would be easily affordable.nbsp;All that being said, here are my main questions:1 Will a bank even consider loaning to me when the payments would be such a high percentage of my take home?2 Is it unrealistic for me to be looking for 2-3 BR places? Should I just get a 1 bedroom place and not have roommates? It seems like this would help me get a place sooner, but that a 2-3 BR with me renting one or two rooms would set me up better financially in the long run3 I know traditionally youre supposed to put 20 down on a house, but just based on how ludicrous housing prices are in the bay area, is it a bad idea to have a smaller down payment? Im assuming its not as bad of an idea, because I have no idea how any young people like myself would be able to ever afford a down payment in this area.4 Is there anything I appear to be overlooking in this entire process?5 Assuming that 500k is too much, what price range should I be looking in for my income level?nbsp;Edit: Formatting  <response>: If you are considering suicide, call 1-800-273-8255.And make no mistake, what you are contemplating is financial suicide. You are buying an investment property which is what this is: you hope to be making money from renting the extra rooms by borrowing 70 of your future income.Think of how little would have to go wrong before you lose that house: you lose your job, even for a month your supposedly-reliable-but-dont-have-a-place-of-their-own friends miss a few months rent do you have any idea how hard it is to evict a room-mate you have a sudden expense They generally say you should buy a place that is 3x your annual income. A few years ago, the _Mercury News_ tried to find a house in the Bay Area that was asking less than the median price US-wide for a home. They found exactly one, in Cambell IIRC, for 172, just about your speed, and _it was actually on fire_. 