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first home buyer, financing questions
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i think we would be good with paying around $1200 monthly mortgage fees (with all other property fees included like tax etc.) you probably can't get a $250k house for $1,200 a month including taxes and insurance.  even at a 4% rate and 20% down, your mortgage payment alone will be $954, and with taxes and insurance on top of that you're going to be over $1,200.  you might get a lower rate but even a drop to 3% only lowers the payment $90/month. getting a cheaper house (which also reduces taxes and insurance) is the best option financially. what to do with the $15k that i have? if you didn't have a mortgage i'd say to keep 3-6 months of living expenses in an emergency fund, so i wouldn't deplete that just to get a mortgage. you're either going to be  since 1) the mortgage payment would be tight and 2) you aren't able to save for a down payment, my recommendation is for you to rent until you can make a 20% down payment and have monthly payment that is 25% of your take-home pay or less.  which means either your income goes up (which you indicate is a possibility) or you look for less house.  ideally that would be on a 15-year note, since you build equity (and reduce interest) much more quickly than a 3-year note, but you can get the same effect by making extra principal payments. also, very few people stay in their house for 30 years - 5 years is generally considered the cutoff point between renting and buying.  since you're looking at a 10-year horizon it makes sense to buy a house once you can afford it.
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