<prompt> Human: This post will be jumbled because theres a lot of information. I apologize in advance, and please let me know if anything is unclear. Husband is 36, Im 30. We have three kids: 10, 7, 6. Over the past six years my husband I have both been laid off and unemployed multiple times. We had to sell our house and move to another state to live with his parents for free two houses connected by a hallway so we have our own house but not really. Weve been here four years and it has been miserable. My husband finally found a job two years ago making 24kyear. I just found a job last month making 32kyear. Things are finally looking up and we are feeling great. Since we live here for free, we decided to stay put for a year before looking at houses. Then, this week, the house across the street came up with sale. The house weve wanted to buy for a decade. Its the perfect location because of the proximity to his familys farm and we think the house is pretty nice. But if we buy it, Im estimating that we will only have 1,000-1,200 leftover after mortgage and bills including groceries. I feel like this is too little, but I also feel like I cant spend another year in our current house. Theres also a house in town, about twenty minutes away walking distance to my husbands work but farther from mine. Its comparable in price to the one across the street but it has a basement apartment that we could use for extra income 600-800month. My plan would be to live in the top for a few years while renting out the bottom and then eventually move out, enabling us to rent out both units. I feel like this is the choice that is more financially stable but it puts us away from his parents, who we rely on often for childcare since we both work a lot of evenings. The neighborhood is still nice, in fact its my favorite in town, but we would spend more in both gas time getting the children to his parents. I know my husband and I are both too emotionally invested and exhausted to see this clearly. Id love to hear your opinions. Thanks!Assistant: I would be tired to stay with family as well. I would honestly go with the house close to family. How does your emergency fund look like? 1000-1200 savings is okay depending on your financial goes. I would be comfortable with it as long as you live within your means. And I wouldnt be comfortable with renting the basement out to strangers especially with kids that age. But people here will probably say different. But thats just me if I were in your shoes. Human: My husband isnt sure if hes comfortable with it, either. He would like to buy both houses: the one in town and rent out both units, and the one across the street to live in. The bank said they could do special approval for it, but that big of a loan makes me very nervous. Assistant: With your financial situation, I wouldnt take both houses. I would absolutely not. The bank may approve you, dont get me wrong. But theyre not looking out for your best interest. Its all about money for them. Dont do it. Better off buying the house you wanted by his family. Human: The upside is obviously having the extra income but I agree that theres too much risk to buy both. As much as I hate waking up and going to sleep crying over our current housing situation, Id rather stay here than risk absolute financial ruin by overextending ourselves with two houses.  <response>: Extra income seems great right up until you dont have tenants and have to pay the mortgage anyway. You are not in a financial position to buy both. 