Seriously.....For my first house, we qualified for something like a $400k house. WTF. Nope. I guess we could have afforded that if we lived on plastic lawn furniture and cardboard boxes in the house, didn't invest in retirement, only ate ramen, and never did anything or any traveling. Just because a bank will qualify you for a **** ton of money on a mortgage definitely does not mean you should buy a house anywhere close to that expensive.
Travel is the last "luxury" I'd give up.
Under-buying on our house vs what "they" say you can afford on a given salary has been a great play for us.