<prompt> Human: Hi PF,My husband and I are about to buy our first house, and weve found ourselves in a fortunate position but wed love your advice on how best to take advantage of it.First, our situation:Were renting right now for 1080month, which is basically sustainable on my income alone. I make about 53kyear, I save 5 of that in my employers 401k, and they match an additional 10. After that tax advantaged retirement savings, taxes, expenses and rent, were not saving anything extra, but were not in the red either. My husband currently has no income, but thats because he just finished his degree and is looking for work. His field is less lucrative than mine so we can probably expect him to make something like 25-30kyear as soon as he finds something, but we dont know when that will be. We have nearly no debt whatsoever his student loan is a few thousand at 2, so weve got that going for us, which is nice, but were also planning on having a few kids in the next 5-6 years, which will cost however much kids cost.So, on our own merits, we could probably afford a mortgage of about 925month so that we can save a little extra for house maintenance, and hopefully save a lot more once my husband finds work. We have great credit and can put 20 down, so that puts our initial budget around 175k-195k, which in our city equals a house and neighborhood in the okay to pretty good range.But heres the plot twist:Weve had the good fortune of inheriting about 700k, which gives us some extra options. Were still inclined to take a mortgage rather than paying cash for a house, simply because we can get an interest rate below our expected long term investment return. Even so, with that safety net behind us, we could up our budget to the 270k-310k range and get a great house in a great neighborhood. The mortgage would be closer to 1600month which is more than our own incomes could cover at least until I make more andor he starts working, but the inheritance would cover the difference for the foreseeable future.So the question is whether thats a good idea. I have the inheritance invested in broad, low-cost index funds per rinvestings advice so its not at huge risk, but a really serious market crash could theoretically put us into slightly nervous territory. Were also planning on a couple of kids in the not-too-distant future, so the less of that inheritance we spend now, the more we can have later to cover their education and even pass on to them. In principle were also not thrilled about the idea of living beyond our means and using the inheritance to make up the difference.And yet, it seems silly to have money if youre not willing to use it for anything, and a better house in a better neighborhood near better schools sure seems like it might be a justifiable investment in our familys future.So, PF, whats your take? Is it worth using a chunk of this inheritance to get us an amazing forever home right away? Or should we keep the inheritance as a failsafefor-the-kids fund and only buy a house we can currently afford by ourselves, even if that means having to move again in 5-10 years when we outgrow it?Thanks for any advice!  <response>: I agree that you should use the inheritance to get a better house. You should buy a house in a really good school district and get yourself the home that you intend your kids to grow up in. Moving is hard!Youll likely want to wait until your husband starts working to apply for the mortgage, but theres no reason you cant start dipping your toes into the housing market now. 