<prompt> Human: Is it smarter to rent or buy? Husband and I bring home about 55,000 a year. We have a baby on the way. We have a little debt - two car loans paying about 600month on them and student loans paying 300month on those, but no other debts. We have a credit card but pay it off monthly. Our credit scores are both above 700, but dont have a ton of history. We currently rent at about 900month give or take a little, as water is included in rent, and sometimes we have to budget tightly to pay it, but were never late. We have a small savings account opened in May this year - theres about 4,000 in there.That being said, is it smarter to rent or buy? Wed be looking at buying in 8 months. We dont have much for a down payment, but paying 900month for rent is ridiculous. We live in a city in Missouri, so finding rent for less than that and not in the ghetto is nearly impossible.  <response>: Doesnt sound as if you have the downpayment to buy yet. Id work on cutting expenses or increasing income so you can save more. Start researching now what price you want to pay for a house and what youll need as a downpayment and work towards that.You really want an emergency savings of 3-6 months expenses before you do anything though. Especially with a baby on the way. 