I have bent over backwards for a particularly difficult tenant and it has not worked out well.

You can work with an accountant to work backwards and he can guide you of how much of a house you need to buy to get your income to the lower tax bracket / 12% / 10% / 0% bracket.

Your character as a man is nonexistent and your business practices are downright backwards.   

Do you work with a lender that bends over backwards to get loans CTC (cleared to close)? 

At that point it would be a seller financed deal, unless I have everything backwards.  

They’ve bent over backwards for my business and today I have 5 mortgages with them.

Only way I can really answer this is by going backwards. 

Pandemic price increases have stabilized but it's not going backwards, and rent growth has kept up with increased prices. 

I always suggest to do the math backwards . see what the rents are and how much of a spread youd prefer to make over the mortgage payment and offer accordingly .

@Angela A. rentals are a long-term game, despite what everyone thinks.Why don't you look into rental rates and work backwards, to determine the max PITI payment those rental rates will support, and then calculate the max mortgage amount?