I think the issue is more that you can't save the 100ish thousand needed to avoid pmi. Assuming you live in the a HCOL area that's understandable. I live in Chi

I think the issue is more that you can't save the 100ish thousand needed to avoid pmi. Assuming you live in the a HCOL area that's understandable. I live in Chicago and am spending 25k a year since my total housing costs come out to less than 1k a month, so I'm already halfway to saving the down payment after just a year. If you don't want roommates than you should be looking at household income, for which 90th percentile is 200k, making a 440k house pretty easy to afford.