Oh that hurts to hear, lol! I’m lucky to be in a LCOL area where 200k gets you something old but no damage. Think you’re stuck with that higher payment but I think you’re perfectly fine at that amount especially since in 5-10 years your income will be much greater as well and it’ll balance out with any extra costs like part time daycare whatnot

Another opinion: I think you totally could go ahead and purchase that home and be okay - but maybe consider how your budget would look on one income (just to be safe)

A little different of a response: but maybe aim to purchase a “just livable” house. As in nothing structurally wrong with it, but it can have atrocious bathrooms and a terribly outdated kitchen that you can spend the next couple years renovating. My thinking is keep the mortgage payment low, and use my discretionary income for the house. Basically instead of getting a house for $3000/mo that will be my forever home (or like 10yrs) I’m instead looking at $1500/mo homes that I can slowly fix up as my cash flow grows. Currently saving for DP is my largest expense so once that is done, I’ll have about 50% play money each month that could in theory go to pure renovations but in the event I lose my job or daycare costs are incurred I’ll be better off than stuck with such a high monthly payment.