<prompt> Human: Hello All,My wife and I are recently married and are tossing around the idea of buying a house. There are a lot of factors at play here, and we are interested in the process and if it is a good idea for our situation. I thought of this Sub and figured it would be another great place for some advice. For some background info, I am 23 and she is 21. This is in Madison, WI.We are pulling in about 4200 after tax a month. Both of our jobs are very stable and have advancement programs that equate to a pay raise about once a year. Currently we have just under 5000 in student loan debt and that is it. We are renting a townhouse right now for 1320 a month yes ridiculous but were kinda stuck in it at the beginning and we do love where we are. Our rental complex pays for nothing so we are in charge of gaselectric, water, cable and so on. Our lease is up in August, and they are most likely going to raise the rent again this year, which is what prompted the discussion on owning a house. As for what we would be looking for in a house.. We would be looking to purchase a house for no more than 230,000. The big discussion topic is down payment. We currently have 2500 in the bank we were going to put toward the debt, but would just end up saving toward a down payment if we decided to buy a house. At most, we would have 7-10 down payment at the time of purchase. We would be going for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. Obviously this isnt enough to avoid the PMI and are a little concerned about that. In my mind, as long as the TOTAL monthly payment, including PMI, is less than 1200- 1300 we are looking great and will still make our goals happen. Then the monthly rent we are bleeding from now is actually going toward building equity instead of into someone elses pockets. We would be able to budget getting out of debt in less that 9 months with that monthly payment and we would still have a small 1000 emergency fund after making the down payment. Any thoughts? We are meeting with someone at a Credit Union this week about a mortgage to get some more information and see what we would be approved for. Thanks you all!  <response>: Rent is a living expense. It is not bleeding or throwing away money. The sooner you understand that the sooner youll be less itching to rush into home ownership and in over your head financially.You need to factor in closing costs, repair and maintenance, property tax, etc. into the cost of homeownership. Its not cheap.If I were you Id first pay off all the debt, then save up an emergency fund, then save up a separate 20 down payment, and only then even start looking to buy. 