<prompt> Human: Hi, PF. First time caller, long time listener. 30, trade worker married, two children 8 and 2.My wife and I make a combined 65k, give or take she works part time to stay home with the kids. My mother lives with us she works full time still 67 years old. Shes single, helps with the kids, and I want her to keep saving for retirement. She owns no property and just has a small savings.Anyway. The house were renting now we are being forced to leave within the next 12 months more like 6 months but can leave whenever we want before then. I live in New Jersey, where property tax is insane. But all of our family is here, my oldest is in school and loves it, and all of the surrounding towns that arent crummy within a 30 mile radius are the same or more expensive.Anything I look at has to be 3 bedrooms because of my mother is in the realm of 2500 and up. Even if we split up, our rent would hover around 1500 and my mothers would be in the ballpark of 1100, so we wouldnt be saving anything.Ive been looking for nearly 3 years and thats just what it is in this area. And even those properties that are for rent are few and far between. Perhaps one pops up every few weeks. The random cheapy pops up say 2100, but is always a complete shithole when I go check it out.A mortgage for a modest house all we really want. Something along the lines of a 3 bedroom1-2 bathroom with a basement I can one day finish or is finished already, including the outrageous 10k in taxes would be on par if not cheaper than rent. On par due to insurance, repairs, etc. But, still likely cheaper.Now, with my mothers income as a co-signer, were around 80k-85k. We have the down payment, though weve discussed PMI. Our credit scores are 820, 810, and 720, respectively. Yet I still have this feeling were not able to swing it. Maybe thats just because I was brought up not watching my mother own a house and it feels like a pipe dream.We have no debt aside from my 250 car lease we own the other cars. I just paid off my trade school loan. Credit cards are zero. And so on.What do you guys think we should do? Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.Edit: I expect to buy something in the 275k to 325k range. Thats a starter around here or a fixer upper, but I really have no desire to move once Im in. Id like to buy and own for good. I have close to 20, and would likely have that 20 by the time push came to shove. I have 6 months emergency saved.Edit 2: Holy lord. I went to bed and woke up to this having blown up. Will get to reading!Edit 3: Tons and tons and tons of great advice. Wow. So, a few things:1. Im a barber. Thats my trade. Everyone seemed to assume that it was some other labor job, but thats it. For what I do, I make great money the majority of the income between my wife and I because I work just outside of the city, which leads me to2. I cant leave NJ right now. That seems to be the most popular advice. I would never make what I make now outside of the area Im in. Im essentially the manager of my store and, for lack of a better term, stepped in shit in the last year. The only way Id move on is by opening my own shop, which is absolutely in the cards. But theres no way Im opening something and buying a house at the same time. I dont think my health insurance would handle a stroke without the deductible killing my emergency fund.3. I forgot about my health insurance. 550 a month, out of pocket. The rest is covered 4 of us.4. Im not 100 reliant on my mothers income. That is essentially just go get us the loan. I have other small streams of income that I didnt include because its erratic. Also, my wife will be going back to work in 2 years, replacing my mothers income. Anything from there is just gravy. Id expect wed be in the 80k ballpark alone within the next 2 years. And thats a lowball estimate.  <response>: It sounds like you should do it. Buying a house is a big decision, so there are nerves about it, but if you have 20 for a down payment not including your emergency fund, 800 credit scores, no debt and stable jobs, youll have no issues getting approved for a mortgage. Congratulations man, you did it. You made your life the responsible way, despite not having your mom as an example.My only word of advicecaution: be careful about your mom cosigning. If she misses a payment one month, youll have to cough it up. So, be sure that you can afford the entire payment without her help. 