Be sure to keep a healthy amount aside for reserve, emergencies, and repairs that need immediate attention.

A = You and your family would happily live in it.B = You and your family could live in it.C= You and your family could live in it, if it was an emergency. 

Best to have a decent emergency fund before buying  a home .https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865615773/Dont-buy-a-house-until-youre-really-ready.html

Then we cut the $100+/month cable bill and ~$500/month bar and restaurant bills.... and boom: 50% of take home pay was going into savings.With a few other trimmings, we now save 62.2% of our take home pay into savings vehicles (Investing Reserves, Emergency Savings, HSA, 401ks/Roths).

Assuming that it is possible to put no money down... and because the LTV ratio is so far apart, would it be possible to pull money out of the property to create an emergency fund?  

It's an interesting time to be a lawyer, for sure.Jen Jen you raise some great points, the industry is going through the same growth curve as any other emergent industry.

My goal as of right now is to take out equity for home improvements, debt consolidation and to have cash on hand for emergencies/other expenses

Greater than 7%: Pay it off Greater than 10%: EMERGENCY DEBT!

A lot of local people are turning away from dallas since it definitely has emerged since 2015.

I recently finished "Set for Life" and in it the author suggests keeping your investment savings (not your emergency savings) in the stock market so you can ride the general upward slope of the economy before you utilize it.