The way to know your price range is to pre-qualify with a lender. Any agent will ask you to do this as a first step anyway. That serves 2 purposes. It helps you and your agent know the target price, and also the seller's agent of each property will want to know that you are prequalified and may not be willing to show it if you are not. You don't have to worry about math and formulas yourself, your lender will do this. I can recommend a very good lender if you'd like. Also I live in Park Slope and sell in all the Brooklyn brownstone neighborhoods, so I would be very happy to help you. Just click on my contact info and feel free to get in touch.

The first thing is to identify how much you can afford. Take your yearly salary and divide it by 12. You would then take 43 percent of that number (ie 6000/month = $2580). The $2580 is what you could afford, this amount must include principal, taxes and insurance and PMI for a 1 family house. If you go with a 2-4 family you will get income for each unit and you can use 75 percent of that income towards your income (ie 2000/month rent would get $1500 income for you). So if you bought a 4 fam with 3 rentals all renting at $2000 a month the bank would credit you $4500 in income monthly in addition to your salary. This would help you to afford more of a house.

The second thing i to determine where you wanna live and what it costs to live there. Identify a neighborhod and get an address. Take that address and plug it into http://www.propertyshark.com. You then would run a "comparable" for the property to determine what other home sell for. A comparable is a house that s sold with 1/2 mile, 6 months of a similar construction and use. This will tell you what others are paying for for similair houses in the area. You can decide if you can afford the area.

The third thing is to really determine what type of brownstone you are looking for as their are several type to choose from. Goto http://www.brownstoner.com to read the blogs and the forums.

The fourth thing is to determine if you wanna buy something in great condition or something that needs some work.

The last thing is to get your "Team" together. A good honest Realtor, a good mortgage broker or loan rep, a good home inspector and lastly a VERY good contractor. You need these types of professionals if you are doing this for the first time, if you've done it before you can skip the Realtor and the home inspector.

I happen to be licensed as a Real Estate Broker in NY as well as being a Registered Mortgage Broker and a licensed contractor in NYC and Nassau. I carry all these licenses because I buy and sell property and well as build condos and do rehabs for myself and others. Check out my website to see our prior projects. If you have any questions during the process, you can contact me. I charge NOTHING unless I actually perform a service for you. Calls / Emails and advice are as free as air.

Good luck to you

-ev