<prompt> Human: Hello everyone! I appreciate you taking the time to help me with this situation. My question is this: Is it a completely ridiculous idea to take out a loan to cover a down payment? I already feel like I know what a majority will say, and I feel the same way myself, but here is the reason I am asking. There is a 4 bedroom town home with a garage available for 133,500 dollars. That is a pretty incredible deal to me. The place was built just before the recession hit, so it just sat there, unfinished while everyone had no money. They went into foreclosure and just sat there. Someone recently started finishing them out, however, and they are selling them at rock bottom prices. Im afraid if I wait the two years required to save up a down payment, then they will be gone. I cant imagine them sitting on the market that long. I am ready to get started in the real estate world, and I feel like this is pretty much the perfect starter house. It is located in an area that has virtually no rental properties, yet it is a high income area as well, so I feel like I would be able to rent it out for a pretty good profit once I decide to move on to other ventures. Just to give you a current snapshot of my financial situation, I make 43,000 per year, I have roughly 4500 dollars of student loans left, but those should be paid off in May June at the latest. I live fairly frugally and dont really have that many expenses aside from the basic COLA necessities. My current annual expenses are about 21k, give or take some. If you guys would like me to provide any additional info, just let me know, and I would be happy to! Thanks!  <response>: Its very hard to take a loan to finance the down payment for another loan.The whole point of the down payment is you showing the lender that you have a stake in the transaction. A traditional lender will question any large transaction in the last two or more months on your bank statements. If you have any, such as a deposit that is then being used to cover the down payment, they will need proof that there is no external obligation due on that money.e.g. If your parents give you a down payment, it has to include a written and notarized statement that the money was a gift with no obligation of repayment.There may be ways around this but it all gets into questionable lending practices. Arguably, you want to have that 20 so you dont get to enjoy the fun of paying PMI. 