<prompt> Human: I am aware that this question has been asked many times before but I am hoping for some insight into my specific situation: Myself 31 and my wife 31 are starting to look at houses in the North Bay Area where the median house price is approx 650k. We are looking at houses around 500k - which is as cheap as you can go unless you want a total dump or to live in a sketchy neighborhood. We make 140k combined gross salary. This translates to about 7700month after taxes401ketc.Right now we are paying 1800 in rent and are able to save about 3200month. We have about 20k to our names and my mother in law has offered us 50k that would be a down payment for us and an real estate investment for her she would own 10 of the house until we could buy her out. So we would be able to put down 10 plus closing costs total of about 61k. Depending on the price of the home we find the total payment would be around 3100month. This would decrease our savings per month from 3200 to 1900. Does this all sound doable or should we just keep saving? Let me know if you need any more details about our incomebudget410k or anything else. Thank you for your responses, I appreciate anyone taking time out of their day to help a stranger out! Edit 1: I thought it would be worth mentioning that I have 28k in student loan debt with interests ranging from 3.2 to 6.5 percent. This is our only debt and it is currently set on anextended graduated repayment plan which means I am basically paying the interest every month so it doesnt increase but doesnt decrease that much either.  <response>: Even if you had no debt, this isnt doable. You dont even have the cash to close this loan. You arent even paying down the debt you do have and you have zero cash. All it takes is and 8K plumbing repair or an assessment from the HOA and youre completely screwed.With this much income and reasonable rent, you need a BUDGET. Theres no reason you shouldnt be debt free with a pile of cash. Houses will still be there in a few years, I promise. Theres no rush. 