I called my mortgage broker who said it was no issue to raise my budget for houses, so I’m doing just that. I found a good rule of thumb is for every $1000 extra you want to spend, it’s an additional $6 monthly payment.

I told my realtor that and got back a listing of 81 possibilities. 81! Looks like opening up the budget has opened the door to more possibilities. And these are actually decent ones, too. It’s almost like there are “tiers” in the housing market - sort of like tax brackets. Certain types of houses will be found at certain price levels. I think I’ve found the price level I was meant to be looking in to begin with. Lots more that look good to me here.

Jenn and I went over the list of 81 last night and whittled them down to 21 that we want to see more information on. Not sure how much further down we can cut the list, but that does mean a full day this weekend driving around looking at places. Maybe this weekend will be the one?