<prompt> Human: A while back I asked a question about whether or not I could afford to buy a home. To sum it up: I earn 3762month as a contractor after taxes, pay 932 to debt, 950 to bills which currently includes 600 rent and 650 to personalliving expenses, and the rest goes to paying down my debt faster. My goal was to pay down all of my 70k debt in four years, until my relative brought up the idea of us going in on a home purchase together with a goal of selling in 4-5 years for a profit. We discussed the matter at length for the next week or two, and after talking to some lenders and running some numbers, I decided it was something I could afford below a certain price point assuming that I had a roommates, as I do in my current apartment. So, we got pre-approved for a mortgage both of our names are on it and began the search.After losing multiple bids, we quickly learned that there at our price point 220K, the competition for single family homes comes from cash buyers, who we cant compete with. Our realtor suggested that given our budget constraints, we should shift our focus from existing homes to new construction. To that end, theres a builder here whos getting to ready to close out a townhome community in a pretty desirable part of town-- it has good schools, is close to major employers, and has easy access to main thoroughfares in the city. Also, given that wed have no competition for it, it represents basically our only chance to buy a home within city limits, as home prices in this city are skyrocketing due to years of high demandlow inventory.BUT.Its a townhome, which I know dont appreciate or sell as well as a rule. And, on top the of the usual costs for homeownership, I have to tack on the HOA fee. What I need to figure out is if the costsrisks of owning a condo outweigh the costsrisks of renting. Here are the estimated numbers:EDIT: So heres why I never became an accountant. Looking through my spreadsheet again, I noticed one number that seemed off to me. I looked through all the formulas and realized that Id made a couple of mistakes that completely change the amount of money Im working with. The new numbers are:Estimated cost of the townhome per month, all-in numbers based on localnational averages, includes extra for maintenance: 2,290 3 roommates Estimated cost of an apartment per month, all-in: 1500 2 roommates, increasing 5-10 annually including utilities Current monthly income after taxes as a contractor: 4,094 Total monthly expenses as a contractor, including share of townhome cost: 2541 Worst case scenario monthly income after taxes if I take a full-time position: 3,054 Total monthly expenses as a contractor, including share of townhome cost: 2361In either case, Ill have at least a thousand dollars left over, which makes owning the condo AND paying down my loans on time a viable option. You wouldnt believe how much time Ive spent fretting over this thing, not realizing that my numbers were off the entire time. Oy.  <response>: I would keep renting until you are in a better financial position to buy. 