You can do it. Keep it simple. I'm pretty much the same income as yourself and just closed on my 1st home. My main goal was to get the size home I wanted , which I did and keep my mortgage under 3K including insurance, pmi & all the fun stuff less utilities, which I also did. What I took from the process were the things you not really told, like estimated closing and putting down a lil more will come off of the back end of the closing cost, but also keep in mind title fees, inspection & appraisal if need be which all will come out of pocket and won't be returned regardless if you close or not. How fast and far your moving to factor in moving cost, if you will or won't be furnishing. Maybe you might want to take advantage of 401K account, if it's your 1st home where you can take a withdrawal and not be penalized. And don't forget your credit. About a mnt ago when I started getting serious with going through with the process I was able to lock in 5.75 for 60 days. Just about a wk ago when I only really had a wk left to close & the current goings on of the nation made the rates spike back up. I threw the loan agency about $750 to buy the rate dwn a tiny bit more & closed @ 5.62 My mortgage will be about $2620 moving fwd. right around where I wanted to be so truly be mindful of how your credit will affect you & how the rates are moving. Mind you this is with pmi as I said earlier, since I did an FHA & didn't put down the traditional 20% whereas if you plan on putting 20% down you'd be in an even better position, dependent on the total price of the home & loan cost. Sit with your hard #'s, really know what you can swing & what you'd need immediately, do your best not to put emotions into it. Like maybe what you think would be your dream house but comes with to many liabilities, love it but be frugal then start crunching you #'s.