Huskerzoo

Hmmm, didn't even go there @teachercd ... 

The point I was sharing was at the 4.5 minute mark, basically, look to only borrow or look for a 15 year fixed rate where the payment is no more than a 1/4 of your take home pay.  This does not include being debt free before getting a home and having an emergency fund in place.  

I have no "two cents" of my own advice.  Most folks are like me ... and buy more than they can really afford.

Totally agree on the 15 year!

Definitely sit down and crunch your financials to see what you can afford to pay mortgage+tax+insurance wise. Like JJ said, do not get the max they say you can. Also, budget for those unexpected expenses like was mentioned before. All kinds of things are going to pop up.

Me and my GF just bought a condo. We knew we were going to redo the torn up base molding and get new appliances, but the kitchen faucet sucks too, plug and switch covers are cracked, garage door opened funky the other day, HVAC probably needs a good cleaning. Things will pop up, and they're going to add up on top of everything you payed up front.

If you can find a way to get that home warranty on an older home, I would for sure do it.

Also, don't be afraid to back out if something is not right once the inspection is finished. We did that on the first house we put an offer in on, and it was a blessing. The inspector thought there may have been asbestos in the attic, and we wanted to knock down walls below it. We would have been house poor and the reno we wanted to do would have taken forever.