Looking for some general advice about buying my first house.

[IWEARGOGGLES]

I didn't really think about shopping for the mortgage before shopping for a house. That is a really good point.

I picked the 10% figure because I factored in closing costs, etc.

I do play professionally and I play higher stakes tournaments. I've done very well the past couple years. I am not a 1/2NL pro, I just thought it would be a good idea to take a low variance approach to actually paying for my life expenses, rather than worrying about a bad month in tournaments.

Some very good stuff in this thread! Keep the good suggestions rolling!