<prompt> Human: Like many people before, my fiance and I are beginning to look at buying a house. We were advised by an expert that we should buy a house asap, as we are currently renting at 1700month. He recommended forgoing a starter home and going straight for a home in which we could raise our children. Right now, we have approximately 30k in savings earmarked for a downpayment, growing at about 2.4kmonth. This would leave us with an e-fund of 10-12k post downpayment. Collectively we currently bring in about 130kyear with some room to grow. Now, we were told to go get that 300k house, and dont worry about PMI, which flies in the face of everything Ive read on rpersonalfinance. But, in some regards it makes a lot of sense to do so, we can start building equity in a home we intend to stay in for a long time, at the cost of at most a couple thousand dollars a year if zillows mortgage calculator is to be believed. What would be the better decision, purchasing with 10-19 down payment, or waiting to avoid PMI?  <response>: I wouldnt advise not worrying about PMI, but there are situations where it is better to just make the purchase regardless of the PMI. It varies by situation. Factors include your local housing market, your current living situationexpenses, what type of PMI it is removable or life of loan among others. Hypothetically speaking lets say you bought a house today, ended up having to pay PMI for 2 years before removing it but the house appreciated 20k in that time you still came out ahead even while paying PMI. If you had waiting to purchase that home when you had the full 20 downpayment, youd be paying 20k more for the house too. Just purely as an example. Another key factor is your current living situationexpenses. As an example, some people are paying more in rent than they would be to own a home even with PMI included. 