<prompt> Human: So theres a very sucky dynamic where I live where a house payment would mostly be lower than something you pay for rent.  <response>: Just because a house payment is lower than rent doesnt mean you should be buying a house. Theres a hell of a lot more to buying and owning a house than its payment. Taxes, insurance, maintenance, repairs, possibly more utilities...Generally I wouldnt think 25k would be enough to be owning a house, but that will depend a lot on the rest of your budget and heavily on the area in which youre looking to buy. 