re: Mortgage Amount 2-2.5x Annual Income

We are currently about to stretch to about 3.5x but the plan is to earn more money in the future so that number goes down and my wife and I are obsessive budgeters and don’t buy frivolous shite, we also value living in a nice home since we spend most our time at home with our kids. A big factor is we built up a large emergency cash reserve if it ever hit the fan.

My personal opinion is that if more people watched their budget weekly or daily they could probably afford more house than they think they can. Just takes a bit of discipline. But then again, different people have different goals, whereas I’m stretching on my mortgage somebody else may want to do something less sexy with it like put it in an index, all depends on the individual. Incomes will rise naturally with at least inflation but my mortgage payment will always be the same or maybe less if I refinance.