<prompt> Human: I have been lurking here for years and would appreciate your opinions on if my wife and I should continue to rent or if we should consider buying our first home given our current situation. nbsp;Background: We have been renting for the past 3 years and our careers have changed dramatically in this time. Were settled in our fields now and have stable jobs. Weve been working fairly aggressively to pay down our debt only student loans, and have paid off about 15k in the past 6 months. We could be paying more aggressively. Our original plan was to become debt free and then assess our housing situation at that time, but the neighborhood were living in has been getting worse and we have decided that well be moving in the next 6 months since we no longer feel safe living where we are. Our decision now is to continue to rent at a new house, or to purchase a property. Well continue to live in the area for at least two years, but may be considering a relocation in 3-5 years and this timeframe has left us with a lot of indecision on the rent vs. buy topic since it is on the edge of traditional advice. The comprehensive NY Times calculator puts us at a break even of 2 years and ahead at 3 years. We do not have a problem becoming defacto landlords at that time if it is financially sensible since I grew up helping manage rental property.nbsp; Ages 25 Household income this year is on track to be 140-155k. Last year was 120k. Projecting next year at 155-165k. Emergency fund is set at 10,000 and we typically have an additional 3,000-10,000 in checking. 16,000 in combined retirement accounts. Were contributing only up to the matches. Student loans 82,000 6.72 weighted average rate. Car 1 owned outright, valued at 10k. Car 2 provided by employer. Credit scores are both around 725. Live in the Seattle area where real estate grew an average of 12 in the past 12 months. The market is HOT with properties frequently selling above asking in just a few weeks. Rent would be 1,300-1,800month. We would consider buying something that would put us at a payment of around 1500mo 200k15yr fixed or 300k30yr fixed. We would need to continue to save for a down payment over the next few months and would pay PMI. We would likely put around 10 down. nbsp;Does buying a home make sense in our situation, or do we just have the homeowners bug? What would you do, PF?  <response>: Remember, rent is the most you are going to pay, while a mortgage is the least. You are definitely better off throwing money at your student loans because 6.72 is really high. After that, save for a 20 downpayment. 