<prompt> Human: My husband and I recently filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy. We have always been renters. We will have enough now each month to save for a downpayment, but with needing 20 down plus giving time to rebuild our credit score, its going to take years probably to buy a home. We will probably be in our early 40s before this happens. My question is, is there even any point now in buying a home? A 30 year mortgage means well be past 70 once the house is paid off. If we had bought a house earlier at 30 or in our late 20s we would of had it paid off before retirement and been able to use that money to save for retirement and maintenance. Im afraid weve screwed our chances of buying a house and a retirement.  <response>: Im in my mid 30s and probably wont buy until my late 30s early 40s. I dont plan on taking 30 years to pay off the house. Ill either take a 15 year mortgage or a 30 year and pay more toward it to pay it off earlier. 