re: Where to buy first home in BR area?

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I appreciate your advise. My wife and I have set up our entire financials based on one income. When we got married, we chose to pay off $40k in debt as opposed to getting a house. I owned a business and worked with real estate investors through the 2000's. Although I have never personally been signed on a mortgage, I have been around real estate for a few years. I know putting 30% might be better right now, but so is 100% cash. At some point, my wife and I has to take a chance on leverage and financing. If we didn't, we'd have money, yes, but we would be kid-less at 35+ years old. We both have looked long and hard, and agree that the time is right.

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My advice would be just the opposite from IB's. Reach to buy as much house as you can. Time is on your side. Your income will increase, the value of the house will appreciate, and the value of the dollars that you use to repay the loan will decrease. This is particularly true in a real estate market like Baton Rouge which has remained relatively stable over the years, i.e., no big boom and bust years except for the brief spike after Katrina.

That big mortgage payment won't seem big at all in five or ten years.