<prompt> Human: I recently caught up with a friend of mine from college and he told me he bought a house with 5 down payment. 215k house, fixer upper in a decent neighborhood. I was shocked because it has only been less than 2 years since we left school. I had about 70k in student loan debt when I left school which I have since gotten down to 50k now. He told me he has 130k in student loan debt. Am I right in thinking that he is insane for buying a house with that much student loan debt? I dont know what his spouse makes but I know she has student debt of her own as well. I am currently planning to buy a house in 2017 or 2018 depending on expected promotions and pay increases over that time for myself and my SO. Hearing how easy it was for him to get a house with 5 down makes me think I should try and do something similar while interest rates are still low because my SO and I are paying 1200 a month between us for rent and in two to three years we could knock off between 30k and 40k off a mortgage in that time. What are your thoughts PF? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Edit: Wow thanks for all of the responses. There doesnt seem to be a general consensus so I am going to keep saving and try to figure this out as I go,  <response>: PMI and interest are reasons not to buy a house with more than 80 debt. There are ways around these but they restrict the kinds of homes you can buy. Deflation is another factor. What is your situation changes and your house is worth 20,000 less? Will you have the time to wait for it to go back up before you sell?In general your friend sounds like hes making very risky financial decisions. Dont use him as a baseline for success. Even if it works out for him, the risk level is such that it may not work out for you, even if you do the same thing. 