Anyone been in this predicament?

Hi all,

Just looking to see if anyone has been in the same situation as my wife and I before. Essentially we have been fortunate enough to buckle down the last few years and save for a 20% down payment. However, due to interest rates it looks like our estimates run too high for our monthly budget, even with that 20% down.

It is a bit of tricky situation and I'm hoping the inventory coming into the market this Spring will shake things loose. The housing market in my area (like many parts of the country) is getting very expensive, but the quality of home is really lacking.

For my area if you aren't prepared to spend 470-500K you aren't in contention for a basic starter home in decent shape, but the interest rates, taxes and ect put those homes over 3000/mo even with 800+credit and 20% down. It feels like the homes 450K and under are always 'septic failed, sold as is' or require you to assume a 700/mo solar panel lease, lol. We are really hoping to get a mortgage of 2800/mo max.

I work a job where overtime is available, and I have a couple coworkers who have 3800 and 4000 mortgages! They are working every other day just to make ends meet, and we'd like to avoid that for sure.

Forgive me for any shortsightedness or if anything is a bit off, this is our first 'real' attempt at getting some keys this season, last year we poked around but chose to rent another year to save up a bit more.

Any advice is appreciated and thank you in advance!