<prompt> Human: Wife and I35 have wanted a new house for quite a while, and now have a child. I make 120K in the Pittsburgh area which is fairly above average, in the IT industry, and she is a stay-at-home mom. We are not super uncomfortable in our current house, but have been talking about upgrading for years now. We are outgrowing our space, but we come up with some efficient ways to manage. The market in the Pittsburgh area has always been fairly stable, but recently we are seeing the same shortages that other cities are seeing.We both have nearly perfect credit ratings.I have over 100K in savings, have about 55 equity in my current townhouse that is probably worth about 220K.We have very minimal car loans and school loans, roughly 500 total, all with very low interest rates. We live pretty efficiently, and Im able to save about 3000 - 4000 every month after expenses.Weve been house hunting in the 350K price point, and not really seeing anything we like. Most of the houses in the area are 20 year old 350K - 400K places, and are coming due for roofs, HVAC and windows.Our agent suggested that we take a look at the 400K or 450K price points. Prices in the area are rising quickly, so I dont want to overspend.My main concerns are the housing bubble bursting right as I purchase and the possibility of economic recession just as I buy my new house. Weve worked so hard to be fiscally responsible and save, and its nice to have the security of liquidity.I really hate debt and buyers remorse, and try my best to avoid them, and that has made it hard to pull the trigger.My options at this time, are to take what Ive saved, put 200K as a downpayment 100K savings 100Kish from the sale of my home, and finance the rest.OrTry to save for another year, banking as hard as I can, and hoping that the 40 - 50K that I can add to a downpayment, offsets the rising prices and rising interest rates.Am I being too miserly? Am I overvaluing my current financial situation? Is the timing right? How do I know what I can afford? Should I maybe think about building instead?Assistant: Our agent suggested that we take a look at the 400K or 450K price pointsNote your agent probably wants you to buy more expensive for a bigger payday, no? I wouldnt listen to your agent too much about higher prices.A roof doesnt cost 50k.If youre not in a rush to buy you can take the luxury of shopping aorund a lot - possibly a year or more. That is what my miserly co-workers did.Human: Basically she said there is a big jump between 350 and 400 in quality in this area.  <response>: Dont take his word for it, make your own decision here by watching listings and viewing plenty of houses. Youre in a great situation, you can continue living where you are for 12 months while you shop around and continue to save toward potentially purchasing a more expensive home. The only real time factor might be the value of your current home, so youll have to decide if you feel like housing prices in your area might decrease rather than hold steady or increase over the next year. The good news is that whatever happens to your homes value will also happen to the value of the other homes in the area. 