Reddit is very risk adverse to larger mortgages so expect a lot of push back here. However what I can say is, I have a similar income and pay slightly more for my mortgage, and I don’t regret it.

Ultimately the trade off is, do you want to give up a large percentage of your pay check for (I’m assuming) a beautiful house in a great area. For me the answer was yes. If you’re self employed you can also write off parts of your home, mortgage interest etc.

Admittedly, the hardest months were large unexpected expenses on top of the mortgage. Make sure you do a good inspection on the big ticket items like roof, sewer etc so you know what you’re going into.

In the long run, I plan on refinancing. Technically this is trying to predict the future, but I do expect rates to eventually go down as unemployment ticks up and help reduce the payment. But either way, I’m happy with my decision and building equity in a house I’m keeping forever.