<prompt> Human: Hello! I am currently a first time home buyer in the state of Ohio. We have a lot of areas that are up and coming as part of revitalizing. I found a few good homes under the 80k mark that with some TLC, I could make in the mid -100ks a few years down the line not a buy and quick sell. Id like to settle down for a few years. According to bankrate calculations my debt to income ratio is just over the limit. I have excellent credit 800, make 40kyr, 17k to put down my retirement, and I plan on renting the house out for the first 2-3 years while I finish paying off my car payment. While I normally would wait until my car is paid off, investors are buying up these houses pretty quickly so I want to get in sooner than later. Im also wondering if this is a case of Cash out the stock to pay off the rest of the credit card situation to bump up my attraction as a lendee. Thanks! ETA More Info: 1. Tenant would be my cousin and her friend. The purchase of a home at this time would not go through unless my cousin was going to move in. 2. Ive been coached that investing in real estate was a better use of my money than it sitting making no money in my IRA. Is that not correct? 3. Closing Costs: I had read that these could be included in first-time home buying loans. ETA 2: I also want to say thanks to everyone! I am hesitant about this whole thing and the more information I can arm myself with, the absolute better.  <response>: You shouldnt cash out retirement to buy a house. The same applies to debt unless you are trying to avoid bankruptcy. You also dont seem to have an emergency fund. You arent ready to buy a home yet. 