<prompt> Human: Using a throwaway here for. My fiance and I are considering buying a house, the only thing holding us back is that the mortgage payment will be about 2,000mo including taxes and insurance. This isnt out of the ordinary for our city and especially for our neighborhood. We are in a Tier 2 COL city.Our take home pay after taxes, health insurance, AND retirement savings 17 of household gross income is about 6,300 month. Our only other debt is a car payment at 400 per month with only about 7 months left.Ive heard the rule of thumb about not spending more than a third of your income on housing and we would be right at that level. I just dont know how much stock to put in a rule of thumb that ive been hearing for years.Heres the breakdown of our monthly income and spend:6300 - net take home400 - car payment expiring soon200 - utilities assuming will be about the same if purchasing the house, this is a conservative estimate1000 - cash spending groceries, pet food, home supplies, entertainment1000 - cash short term savings800 - employee stock purchase program2000 - potential mortgageI figure this leaves us with about 800mo as a buffer or for discretionary spending.After closing costs and down payment we would be left with about 8 - 10 months of expenses for an emergency fund.We love the house and the neighborhood but the thought a 2000mo obligation is a little frightening  <response>: That seems totally doable, especially considering youre saving 17 of your income for retirement, excluded from your 6300mo take home.That 1000month for cash and short term savings will change, I assume. That is easy to manipulate to a different part of your budget, especially since you do already have an emergency fund even after closing costs. 