<prompt> Human: My wife and I are about to close on a home against the general rules of PF, because we still have student loan debt. However, we are buying far less house than many people who are doing it right for our income. Combined, we gross 140k-ish and have about 75k student loan debt down from 120k last year which still has 9 years of payoff. The general rule of thumb Ive seen is no more than 3x annual salary, which would put us at an acceptable home value of 420k with a monthly payment used an online mortgage calculator of about 2108. I have also seen no more than 28 of your monthly gross, and this would be closer to 20.Now onto reality. We are buying a home at 180k, barely over 1 years gross salary, which will have a monthly payment around 900. Where is the problem here exactly? The house were actually getting will cost us right around 8 of our monthly salary. I honestly do not see the problem here. We have lived in a cheap apartment we dont like with shitty neighbors for 2 years to pay down our debts to the point we are at now and this house is exactly what we want.We have between 3-4k extra each month that we throw at student loans, except lately that money has just been sitting in a savings account waiting for down payment, and I dont understand how we are being financially irresponsible compared to someone in my situation who paid off the remaining 75k and bought a 420k house in 2 years instead. I live in a low cost of living area and a 420k house would be a mansion of a house that no one would need. I would have to hire help just to clean the thing... that seems excessive and irresponsible to me, but maybe I am just not seeing something. I feel like Im being responsible, but then everything I read says otherwise. Can you please either validate me or explain why I am not doing the right thing?  <response>: I have never heard that rule applied to student loans. It seems like you created a strawman just to knock it down and in the process brag about your income and how smart you are.Banks look at your debt to income ratios. You should have sufficient income to make the minimum payments on your student loans and still make payments on a mortgage.A bank would probably approve you for a 3000 mortgage based on your income, unless you have other debts???Are you putting 20 down? Do you have at least 6 months expenses in savings for an emergency? Are you saving for retirement? 