I've been living in my parents' rental house (the house I grew up in) for over 20 years. I share the three bedroom house with two roommates: a high school friend and my cousin. I pay $300 in rent--utilities included. It's an amazing deal. I make $70,000/year. Currently, I'm able to invest $2,000 a month--half of my take-home pay. I'm looking to move, though. I want my own space. I want to start a family.
From the other threads I've read, a lot of users are renting with roommates to become financially independent. I'm confused about what the plan is once financially independent. Are you saving 25x your current expenses (including the cheap rent because of multiple tenants) or are you saving 25x your expected expenses with your own home/mortgage?
Assuming I'm not talked out of moving, I've seen advice that I should purchase a house where the expense is 25% or less of my take-home pay, or $1,000, and less than a year's salary, or $70,000. In the east valley of Phoenix, this doesn't seem feasible. The median price is over $200,000.
I seem to be in an amazing position to save a huge amount of money. I have no debt, my car is paid off, my insurance is paid for by work, I have very few bills, my rent is ridiculously cheap, and I make a comfortable wage. Even with all of that, I still don't see how it's feasible to comfortably save 50% of my take-home pay if I were to buy a house. The mortgage alone would be about half of my expenses, not including the need to pay for utilities, property taxes, etc.
Any clarification on my assumptions would be much appreciated.