<prompt> Human: So, my wife and I arent very well-off. We dont do terribly, but we make just enough to be able to save for the inevitable emergency fund, but not enough for REAL savings Though she has a 401k through work and I have a Roth IRA since Im self-employed. We have about 4k of credit debt from when we started our lives together. Widdled it down from the initial 6.5k two years ago.So the issue that comes in now is this:My parents are pushing HARD for us to buy a home. Especially one in the 200k range. Im not sure exactly why, maybe its just because they view that as some status symbol we need they are VERY, VERY well-off. But since we got married, we cant be in a room with them without them talking about how we need to buy a house, or how screwed we are that we havent saved for a down payment, or how screwed we are getting by renting, or how their friends kids are buying houses, etc. We dont plan on having children, and we both like our careers, even though they dont make a lot of money. Were pretty happy, especially compared to a lot of other people our age who are really struggling. To complicate things, my grandmother passed away a few months ago. My mom told me she left my wife and I 10k, but only to use towards a home. Im not any sort of financial wizard. I would even say Im pretty bad with money from a make a lot of it standpoint. So someone correct me, here. But wouldnt it make more sense, financially, to use some of that 10k to fully pay off our debts, which would also eliminate a monthly car payment, and then start looking for a home in a few years? Whats the distinct advantage of owning a home in these modern years? I dont even know if we could afford it, with the increase in expenses with taxes and repairs that are currently covered by a landlord? Help me out money-peoples.  <response>: But wouldnt it make more sense, financially, to use some of that 10k to fully pay off our debts, which would also eliminate a monthly car payment, and then start looking for a home in a few years? Yes. You should not buy a house while carrying credit card debt. Pay that off, build up a downpayment, and then buy a house. Whats the distinct advantage of owning a home in these modern years? You can build equity with your payments. I dont even know if we could afford it, with the increase in expenses with taxes and repairs that are currently covered by a landlord? Then, again, you shouldnt buy a house.Buying a house is not always a good financial decision: if you buy and then need to move within five years or so job loss, new job in another city, etc, you are likely to lose money. If home prices are very high relative to rents usually only happens in a large city, but you never know, you are likely to lose money. 