<prompt> Human: I know this question has been asked before, but its a slightly different situation. Im a single woman in my first year of my PhD. Ill likely be here 5 more years, but its very unlikely Ill stay in the area afterwards. The rental market here is insane, and Im paying 900 a month for a 500 sq ft apartment. Ive looked at a couple condos for rent recently, and theyre about the same as Im paying now for drastically lower quality. In contrast, some of the condos on the market for purchase now are great and my mortgage payment would be 200 lower than my current rent, not to mention that itd be a good investment rather than just throwing rent money down the drain every month. Am I insane to even think of this? I will have about 10k saved up by the time my lease runs out, so more than enough for a down payment.  <response>: Having bought a house at the start of a phd program, Id definitely say its a bad idea. Yes, you can get lucky. But 5 years isnt long enough to recover if theres a drop in the market, and transaction costs alone would eat into any upside. And you never know when your advisor will pick up and switch universities and youll need to follow. Plus, youll be really busy and its good to not have the added responsibilities.You mention youd have about 10k saved up - would that be on top of a 6-month emergency fund? And I assume youre not buying a 50k condo... It doesnt sound like you have enough money to be considering this regardless of the too-short time horizon anyway. 