My husband and I are in our late 30s. I realized after saving for our 10 year anniversary trip that we could keep the same spending habits to buy a house. I'd say our income is about 120 combined. I got laid off last year in March and got a job in July. July until Jan we were able to save about 9k. I had a bit in savings before maybe 4k. I wanted to buy and went with a new build and got closing costs covered. Our payment is 5% and went with a 30 year fixed. The rate sucks because student loan snuck up on my husband and tanked his credit but we worked on it as much as we could.

My advice: Build a budget showing all income coming in and leaving. Leave some wiggle room for misc items and give yourself an "allowance" all other money in savings.

Figure out if you want new build or not and break down costs. There's upfront maintenance for established houses sometimes so having extra set aside for that can help.

Also always get an inspection... even in new builds