<prompt> Human: Heres a quick overview of our financial situation. My husband and I both have relatively stable job situations I work in govt, husband has tenure. We make a combined gross income of 110,451. - Our only debt is a car payment 200month. We share 1 vehicle.- We spend less than 30 of our income on rent.- We max out our Roth IRAs.- We have an emergency fund but it, admittedly, needs to be bigger especially after we buy a home.- We have saved 17K over the past year and 6 months, for a down-payment. Our goal is 25K 20K for down payment and the rest for associated costs. Were on track to meet our goal and get pre-approved this Fall. We do not want to buy a house over 200K, and we are firm on this. We know the bank will offer us more.Everyone has encouraged us to buy a house, citing all the usual reasons - youre throwing your money away renting, you need more space, its a great investment etc. Im getting cold feet and Im no longer so certain that it is a great investment. Ive heardread so many horror stories about peoples money flying out the window once they buy a house. Im, essentially, worried that Ive been sold on the American ideal of homeownership and Im wondering if buying is ACTUALLY the best choice for us.Were planning on staying in this area for a long time. Home prices and demand for housing is at an all-time high in our area - Twin Cities, MN. So, finding a house for 200K and not being outbid will likely be a struggle.Does it sound like we should buy, or should we wait another year, get a bigger down payment, and then see how things feel?  <response>: I wont ever tell anyone to not have 20 down, so I wont fault you for saving longer. That being said, since you do want to stay in your area a long time the caveat is that you have to stay in this house for much of that time it is probably not a terrible idea to buy sooner rather than later. Check out the NYT rent vs buy calculator for some visual and numerical food for thought. 