re: In the market for a house...

What area are you looking?

When we were first looking at what we could afford, we started with our set budget based on take home pay (after insurance & retirement). We used our set known expenses that would not change with the new house (TV, cell, car payments, student loan, food...), then figured out what size house we were considering. Spoke to a few people we were close with in the area (Family & close friends) to get a ballpark of what they were paying. Factored that into the budget and determined how much we could afford for the monthly mortgage payment. With that, we backed into how much house we wanted to buy. This kept us from greatly overestimating our range and set us up for the sticker shock when they show you your estimated mortgage, insurance, utilities...

Best thing we did when we decided to buy was find a neighborhood we wanted and buy there. We bought a house that needed some work that we were comfortable doing ourselves and planned to sell it in 5 years for a house that fits us better depending on where we are in our lives. 10 years & 3 kids later, we are still in that house and are now looking into renovation loans to add-on the sqft we feel we need because we love the area and realize the market is ridiculous right now and outside of a new build we'll still be compromising on something.