Although your home is an asset, if you’re buying right now it may be best to not view it as a financial investment.

We bought a home around ~400k knowing that it could go down in value, but building a family and having a place with a yard and proximity to decent schools/other things was enough of a benefit that we’re not really concerned about our home as a means of improving our finances. Of course, we need to be able to afford it, and we are on a much lower income than you, but we also scored a pretty good mortgage rate a few months ago.

That said, I did sacrifice certain things. Not in love with the style/architecture of the home. A little older than preferred, etc.

My suggestion is to really nail down what your absolute needs are and to be a little flexible on things that ultimately aren’t that important (aesthetics). We’re really happy with our purchase overall even if there were some things we could have done differently. We’re also fortunate to have spent less than we budgeted so we’re doing a few upgrades around the house where we’re able.

(Don’t skip inspections. We didn’t ask for any corrections, but we were comfortable with the results of our inspection even though a few things needed fixing.)

We were pre-approved, hired a buyers agent, viewed 15 homes in one weeks time, made three offers on Sunday, one accepted on Monday, inspections, under contract, etc. etc. in 45 days. Paid $15k under asking, $100k less than we were approved for, and so far we have had to replace a garage door opener. House was turn key.
Agent is owed most of the credit, came into our agreement with several leads, did their research and networked.
Very happy.

It sucked.

Market sucks. We have a income of ~$300k and finding a good house, with no renovations needed in the <$600k range has been difficult.

Thankfully we are in no need to buy because we’ve found landlords that have been amazing, not raised rents and do preemptive maintenance few times a year.

We made an offer last year. $65k over asking and lost. Thr winning bid was like $40k under what we offered ($25k over asking) but they were willing to skip all inspections and give sellers an insane schedule for moving out. Like 3-6 months of free rent after closing until they found a house to move to. Yeah, we’re not gonna play that game.

It sucks, to buy a house that needs no major repairs is or renovations is gonna run over $450k. To give some context the average person in RI makes under $100k/year.

I've been looking to buy a house because my apartment was sold and we have to find somewhere to live. These replies are making me feel so poor and hopeless.

The photographer for the realtor said the market is picking up because he had a lot of bookings this week so maybe its improving.