I think my down payment was 5% for a 3-3 in MCOL…mortgage is only a few hundred more than our friends who rent an old 2-1, although we live in a small low incom

I think my down payment was 5% for a 3-3 in MCOL…mortgage is only a few hundred more than our friends who rent an old 2-1, although we live in a small low income village 30 minutes from the more prosperous city they live in. We would not have been able to afford a mortgage there because the only available housing stock requires too much work and $$$ to be worth it. We only bought this house because it was a fair price and all the HVAC was new. Nothing else in our market was acceptable at the time. So basically, down payment is easy, monthly mortgage is ok, but any contracting work is a painful hemorrhage.