<prompt> Human: So me and my significant other live with family. We want our own place. We have a monthly gross income of 3600, with raises coming soon, and roughly 1400 in billsdebt such as student loans and medical Which some will drop off very soonWere looking at the area. And rentals that are decent range about 1500m not including utilities. Where as housing mortgage we could have under 1000. Obviously if we buy wed save up more before taking the plunge in case of emergency. In 2 months we can put back over 5000 for our nest egg. But wed like to be out this summer before the end of fall. So personal finance. What would you suggest?Assistant: What do you have in savings by way of a down payment? Have you looked at getting pre-approved to see what you can afford? Buying a house is much more difficult than comparing monthly rent vs a mortgage.Human: I have looked at preapproval. I just havent sent out any final paperwork until we have a better idea of what were doing. This would obviously be our first home. And we were looking at one in the 140000 range. We have about 2500 right now as we werent hard saving based on the idea we would rent. But if we decided to buy as I said wed go into hard save mode.I was looking online and it looked like there were 1 down payments. Is that a reasonable a good idea? Or are those scams? Even with that kind of loan wed be Under a grand a month for mortgage insurance ectAssistant: A 1 down-payment is not a reasonable or good idea when renting is an option. Id try to find a cheaper rental 900 range if possible and save for a 20 down-payment. Human: Okay. Thats fair. However even if we did more like 10 down payment? Because 900 is the slums. The area around here is very high cost. And even your cheapest apartments for a decent space i.e. a 21 thats not bug infested youre looking at 1200.  <response>: 10 is miles better than 1, but Id still shoot for 20 if at all possible. Is 900 in the slums because youre looking to live downtown in a HCOL city? In situations like those you can frequently get a very reasonable rented apartment or house in the suburbs 30-40 minutes away, which would really be an investment in your future even if you didnt want to live in the burbs. 