At what point would it be considered "house poor"? Is it mortgage payment proportional to income? Is there a threshold/guideline I can reference?

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Rather than a specific percentage I would try to map out your monthly budget and see if that housing payment (including utilities, maintenance, taxes, association dues, insurance etc) would impair the ability for you to do other things like saving for retirement, enjoy reasonable vacations/entertainment/dining, paying off credit cards monthly, etc.

The % would be different for two people making the same income if one has large car/student loan payments or family to support.

We overshot on our house and were house poor at first, but thankfully accounting income generally grows steadily and we refinanced to a lower rate and to get rid of PMI so monthly housing expenses are now less than half of what I'd be comfortable paying if we were buying now. The first year we had two empty bedrooms and an empty dining room. Other than our bed and a couch set the other rooms were mostly filled with hand-me-down furniture that we've been slowly disposing of over the years.

My opinion: If you can't cover all your costs on one income, you're house poor.

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