You need to look at the payment for what you get. Sure, you can get a decent house in Johnson Creek for cheap, but the cheapness disappears when you burn it up in fuel. There is no equity in an empty gas tank.
My wife likes the city life. We own up to the neighbor's house and if we were living in the city we'd have at least three houses between us and them. Heck, there would be two houses between our house and detached garage. She's been saving her pennies so we can buy their house when they put it up for sale "because their house is just too close to ours".
I don't think people should buy "a starter house". Buy your last house. Each time you sell and buy you lose many year's worth of equity.