Buying the median home in Warren means financing $168,000. Against the area's $52,300 median household income, that works out to a 3.2x price-to-income ratio.
Warren's 1.54% property tax rate runs above the 1.1% national average. That's $216/month on the median home here, not a rounding error against the mortgage payment.
Michigan levies a state income tax on top of the $1,157/month this mortgage runs. Model your real after-tax take-home before deciding how much payment you can carry.
Warren's cost of living index is 88, below the 100 national baseline. That's on top of the housing numbers above, not instead of them.
Warren's median home price runs 9% lower than nearby Detroit: $185,000 there versus $168,000 here.