We bought a $535 home with $140K income. We put 20% down. No daycare costs.

We make 135k and just bought a 515k house with 20 percent down. It is tight with daycare costs but manageable.

We make 230k and bought a 425k house (that needs work) with 10% down to keep most of our funds in the market, ideally earning return. We also have a rental property and we wanted to be able to comfortably (or really uncomfortably) weather both payments if there were tenant issues.

I do like that one of us could pay the mortgage with the other out of work - read the 2 income trap while you are thinking about buying. Might not be able to swing that set-up, but I really do think its useful to think about and have on your radar to stay prepared in emergencies.

We bought our house for almost exactly $550K a year ago. HHI is $175K (more with bonus).

I wouldn't buy a $550K house on $130K. You won't have any breathing room unless you have a LOT to put down.

Op, the real issue is how much equity you have as well as cushion, etc. You need to focus not on the price of the house, but the size of the mortgage. Keeping the mortgage about 30 percent of gross income is a good rule of thumb, but for first time buyers without significant equity or large salaries, it is definitely tough. If you have 150k in equity, you can look around 550k. If you have 50k in equity, I would probably top out at 450, etc.

OP here-
Thank you everyone for sharing! We have 130K HHI. I am going to have to research about what we can afford. We don't have any debt except a car payment and our children are out of daycare. But, I know we will never break the 150K income level or at least no where in the near future. Maybe we will look at homes from 450K to 500K. We have equity in our town home and are ready for a SFH. Gahh, this area is so expensive!