As someone who can comfortably buy but chooses to rent, remember this
1. Your primary home is not an investment.
Get that out your head right now. Primary homes appreciate but at a lower rate than the stock market or other businesses, and they don't generate cash flow like rental properties... Instead they're cash suckers
Think of your home as a cash sink. With that in mind, buying a home should be about cost minimization. Not thinking, "well if I buy a more expensive home it'll be worth more in 20 years", and so will your costs dummy
2. You don't
need to buy a home.
You really don't. There is nothing wrong with wanting to buy a house, the same way there is nothing wrong with buying a car. But the greatest lie the devil told is convincing Americans the only way to wealth and generational riches is through buying a home. I promise you it isn't. Don't let the current market and fearmongers push you into home ownership before you're ready.
3. Do the math. Or have someone qualified do it for you.
See if it makes better financial sense to buy rather than rent in your area. No hotepconomist, this isn't simply a rent payment vs mortgage payment. Do a full assessment of what it'll cost you to put $40k cash on a down payment instead of in index funds. Consider costs like insurance, home repairs, property taxes, bigger utility bills... That you gotta pay now. If the math pushes you to buy, and you're ready for that responsibility, go ahead. Don't ask your realtor to do the math
speak to someone with no skin in the game to give an unbiased view. Depending on where you want to live, it's better to buy or rent, financially. Determine what the math says and go from there.
You can still buy if the math says rent, but that's because you now realize buying a house isn't an investment, it's more of fulfilling a personal need motivated by emotional and sentimental factors. So in that instance, the pressure of needing to buy because "it's always better to buy now" is removed.
With that in mind, if you are truly in
want of buying a house, then do this. Figure out how much you can afford to
comfortably pay for a mortgage, repairs, property tax, insurance, and so on every month. Add inspection and closing costs. Convert that into a home price. Make sure you have 10%-20% down.
Then go on Zillow and look at a map of the United States. Put that final price in. See where the dots are? That's where you can afford to live
Don't stretch your pockets. Don't get a $600k mortgage if the $4000/month payment is going to be a struggle every month. Find a $150k house in bumfukk Idaho and live there. It's a house still. That extra money, put it in your 401k and brokerage account and buy index funds. Your net worth in 30 years will thank you.