Thanks guys.
I've been doing quite a bit of research. And we've been looking at houses.
MVP, very good advice. I guess I got caught up with looking at what I could afford by stretching it, but being stretched out on a house I've always heard is not a good thing. Need to stay within your means. My financial agent also mentioned that it isn't a great idea to think of property as an investment.
So we've zeroed down on a property that I would be happy to live in for 5 to 10 years, or maybe longer. It's in a growing area and around good schools. I asked the realtor after what she thought, and she said it could be a good rental property if we wanted. So it's within our budget, probably can be sold later for a profit, or turned into a rental. So we have flexibility which is probably what we want with this being our first place.
The housing market here is almost caught up to itself. My stocks have had a 12% return over the last few years....... we all were doing well. I hope it keeps up.