He said he can “afford” a house for $300+K…(btw that is for a very avg home, somewhat nicer ones run like $400-$500K) but he would be pretty much house poor. Figure is you make $100K/yr after taxes and 401K you will take home roughly $2,000 every 2 weeks. Then a mtg on a $325K house is roughly $2K/month…then add in real estate taxes and other basic household expenses…and 3/4 your take home goes tot he house alone…then add in other expenses and next thing you know you are living paycheck to paycheck. Now for a married couple with a combined income of like $150+K then it would be realistic.
What you explained sounds a lot like what people do to live in certain parts of CA. From what I hear it is not uncommon to commute 1.5-2 hours each way. I never understood why people would want to live in a place where the cost of living makes it where you have to make $300K/year to live somewhat comfortable. It sounds like you need to stay with the parents and bank a ton of $ and have a huge down payment…where you can keep your payments at a point where you can live and still have some fun. Whatever you do, good luck!!