<prompt> Human: My current living situation is a 1BR apartment a bedroom I share with my son whos about to enter school for 850 a month, heat, hw, and electricity included. After taxes I bring in around 2,250 every 4 weeks. Im looking at a house where the mortgage payment with 0 down RD loan would be 930 price includes taxes and mortgage insurance Oil heat, gas stovewater heater, and electricity would be budgetted for around 400 a month actual expense will likely be less, but to be safe I assume a greater amount. With this mortgage and utility payment my total monthly expenses for a bare-minimum budget projection would be around 1,980. This covers bare-minimum essentials such as food, gas, auto insurance, cell phone, etc...and does not include extra expenses such as trips, going out to eat, new clothes, soccer gear...etc. My thoughts are this: A. Continue living in the 1BR apartment that I dont really like for another 5 years and save 500 a month for an adequate downpayment to be used towards a house 5 years down the road. This would allow me to pay towards a house with a lower, more managable mortgage payment. And I could escape the PMI and guarantee fees of the RD loan product. BUT, Id have to stay in the apartment I do not really like living in for another 5 years, paying rent. B. I purchase the house, and work within a very tight budget. Each month I gain more and more equity and at the end of 5 or so years, I refinance to a conventional loan to shake free of the RD PMI and guarantee fee, which will lower my mortgage payment to something more budget-friendly. 5 years of payments mean I already have a good chunk of equity in the house, refinancing means the monthly payment would be more managable after the initial closing costs fee. But Im not sure I can make it to that point. I want to say I can, but covering my bare-essentials would leave me with 200 a month to spend on things that always come up save. Assistant: Why not just rent a 2 bedroom apartment that you actually like so you your son can both have privacy, and not bother with buying a house?Human: its a needle in a haystack. Im not saying its impossible, but most 2BR apartments would be the same price as the projected mortgage payment, and at that point why would I not want to buy a house?  <response>: and at that point why would I not want to buy a house? Because if something breaks, its not your problem. And houses and the appliances within seem to have a nasty habit of something going wrongbreaking at the exact moment you have very little saved up to solve it within a reasonable amount of time. 