How much house could one afford if they only make $40,000 - 45,000 a year in Houston.

Honestly?

Nothing, really.

sorry, no pleasure in this answer

I was expecting that…its all good :)

The Houston area is pretty cheap for housing—at least it was two years ago, and I can’t imagine that prices have gone up.

The first thing you need to do (assuming you’re getting a mortgage) is to get pre-qualified for your loan. Ask around for a reputable broker. The broker will look at your income and debt to determine how much you can borrow. That number, plus your down payment will dictate what you can afford. Based on my scant experience, I would guess that to top out at $130,000 to $150,000.

Now you don’t want to borrow the max, because your house payment won’t leave you with enough to live comfortably. So figure $110–120k. Depending on how far out of Houston proper you look, you could go as large as a 4BR. (This is based on a family friend’s anecdote.)

Zillow.com isn’t too reliable, but it might give you a ballpark to run around in.

But pre-qualify first and regardless. It doesn’t cost anything, and you can’t do much without completing that step.

Thanks so much for the info :)

Keep in mind that you will need to factor in taxes and insurance into your payment, and you will need to be able to bank an equivalent of 10–25% of your monthly payment in savings so that when something breaks, you can afford to fix it. (That’s one of those pieces of advice from my father that I wish I’d listened to, but didn’t.)

Don’t move to New York ! Apparently the capped $500,000 execs are having a hard time.

Here is a Web tool that helps you calculate it.

Yeah, I am not sure how mortgages are now days. But it really depends on how much you can front for a down payment and then what you get approved for. But there are def some deals in housing right now so you could probably find a decent sized house.