<prompt> Human: Debt: 55k student loansIncome: 20kyear. Our income can only go up. over-educated, under-employed...and we have hopeI already have a good handle on the details of our budget, so I wont belabor it here. So the main question: is there any reason not to buy a house 90k - 110k instead of renting? We have never owned a home, so we dont know the ins and outs, but we have enough saved to put down about 5 downpayment which means wed need PMI insurance. So if we do a 30-year, financing 85k, even after property taxes and insurance, were looking at about 400month, which is about half what rent would cost for a similar housing situation. And then if things improve, as Im hopeful that they will, then we can snowball the hell out of our debt in good cheap housing.What am I missing? I must be missing something, because people with our kind of debt-to-income ratio dont own homes. Right?EDIT: The mortgage calculator I was using was not taking into account the property taxes and insurance PMI house like I thought it was, which skews the numbers pretty violently toward financial doom. End thread. Thanks everyone.  <response>: A other thing to consider. It is much cheaper to relocate as a renter than a home owner. Since you are looking for better employment renting makes it much easier to accept a job on the other side of the country. Unless you had permanent plans to stay in your current area long term I would recommend renting even if the perceived costs was higher. Just like you can find a cheap house to buy you can find cheap places to rent. Edit. Commonly Overlooked expenses. Closing costs. Inspections. PMI. Home owners insurance. Property tax. Appliances. Curtains. Furniture. Lawn care equipment. Utility deposits. If you decide to buy anyway build up an emergency fund outside of your down payment. You would be surprised out how many things need replaced the first year. Especially on cheap fixer upper houses. 