<prompt> Human: First off, thanks for all the great posts on this topic, from what I can tell, Im right on the upper edge of normal, if there is such a thing in housing budgets. Here are the details: We have a combined gross income of 100k Monthly debt car student loan 650 Down payment available 70k Home price 325k, taxes 4kyr No kids or other significant expenses At around 1800mo mortgage, tax, insurance, this is about 22 of our gross income which feels ok just going off rules of thumb..., but in the low 30s for net income which has me hesitating. Am I way out of line assuming a house 3.25x our salary is doable with some slight lifestyle adjustments to be safe?  <response>: I think its going to be really tight and unnecessarily stressful. Forever homes do not exist for the vast majority of homeowners. The typical American lives in a house for something like 7 years and then needs, jobs, etc. change. The fact that youve got 650 flying out the window makes me question why you arent taking some of your down payment money, paying off the carstudent loan, and freeing up monthly cash flow. Are you saving for retirement in your monthly budget? 