re: Can someone help me explain how people are affording a house in today's market?

The amount of money that the mortgage companies will approve people for is ridiculous. I finished grad school five years ago and had a little bit of cash in the bank. I was not interested in throwing money away, renting so we wanted to buy. I contacted the mortgage company less than a month after starting my full-time job. What they approved me for verse my salary was sickening.

After being in that house a little over three years, we sold it and bought our long-term home in the area. We wanted to be in because of the Market boom. We got fairly lucky at having to overpay for our current house and have a 1.9% interest rate. We spent around 100 K on renovations. I’m just glad we got in when we did. We have some friends that are currently looking to buy near us and can’t find anything affordable with the current rates.