<prompt> Human: Im 25, have my CPA, and work at a public accounting firm in Washington DC. Im currently making 70k annually, have 45k in my savings, and 18k sitting in my 401k. My girlfriend and I are both living at home saving up. She is a recently barred attorney and is now looking for firm jobs, but has loans of around 125k.My question for you all - we want to move in together and my focus is building equity, but DC is an incredibly expensive area to buy. So would it make sense to buy a home in the bordering suburbs home values appear to be increasing as the suburbs expand in a particular area of a neighboring county, rent it out, and use the funds to pay the mortgage while we rent in DC?Thoughts, comments, concerns?? Much appreciatedEDIT: Thank you all so much for the sound advice. Take care  <response>: It doesnt make sense. Landlording can be a huge pain, and your plan assumes everything goes correctly. Can you handle the mortgage payment if the property is vacant for months at a time? Do you have adequate reserves to handle repairs if something breaks like the AC? If owning rentals is part of your plan, Id highly recommend doing so under a better financial footing. Get rid of the student loan debt, pay down or off your primary residence, save more money for at least a 20 down payment, have adequate cash on hand for reserves to handle vacancy, repairs etc. A better plan is to continue to rent while you figure out marriage, student loans, etc. Save up as much cash as you can and purchase your primary residence. Eventually you can be in a position to either purchase your first rental from there, or upgrade your own housing situation and use that house as your first rental. 