Hi Raymond- Generally speaking, if you have a $1960/ mo gross income (before taxes), you can qualify for a max of $664.40/ month is total housing expenses. For a SF home in Mass, you might have $175/ mo in property taxes and $45/ mo in homeowners insurance. That leaves you with just $444.40/ mo to pay for the loan itself- PRIN and INT. At a 5.5% rate and 30 years, that is a max loan amount of $78,268.
If its a condo, this would be less, as you then also have a monthly condo fee.

If you need more help, please let me know. Thanks,

Ken L.

Your best course of action is to sit down with a trusted mortgage professional. Ask friends, family, colleagues, respected members of the community, financial institutions where you do banking, trade associations for the name of a mortgage professional they've used recently and been happy with. They can best advise you because there's so much more to a mortgage than simply how much you make. That's a very important part but just a part of the whole picture.

Alot will also depend on your current expenses, credit record, and your type of housing interests as well as your income & lifestyle estimates for the near & long term.

I hope that helps,