Timely thread as we just got pre-approved Monday cause why not buy a house when inventory is historically low in our locale. Current full time house was about double our yearly income when we bought it. Up north house (retirement home/vacation place) was about 2.5X.

New place we're looking to keep around 2.5 - 3X annual salary after down payment.

Current prices are, in a word, gross. $369+/- for a new build 3 bed/2 bath unfinished basement on 1/2 to 1 acre. Many of those w/ a two garage (not sure why they aren't extinct). Basically anything under $450K-ish pending within a week. Asking price is essentially the opening bid, aint no one taking the first offer at asking currently, forget about under asking Get into the $600K range they sit for a bit but still sell. Fu.ckin' crazy - would have laughed in your face if you told me todays prices 18 months ago.

The one thing on our side other than in no way needing to move or being under any time constraint is that we're willing to go further rural than those that want to see deer in the backyard but still get to target in 15 minutes (85% around here).