It’s a buyer’s market, so I would buy. However, don’t buy the biggest house you can afford. Find the most modest house you can stand, and buy the house JUST BELOW that standard! Work it out so that you have the ability to set aside 6months to 1 year of emergency cash.
Put as much down as you can and DON’T FORGET you have mortgage interest deduction with ownership that you don’t have with renting. Take the total of your potential mortgage interest deduction and divide by 3200. The result is the number you can add to your W4 exclusions to pull more money out of your paycheck each week. (Note: Your refund at the end of the year will be smaller).
I understand that school district is important, but so is your financial well-being. A reasonable purchase in those areas may still be putting you too much at risk with no ability to save. Perhaps a unsurpassable deal in a different area would give you the “cushion” you need and still allow you to own a home.
It’s temporary until you and the U.S. economy recovers better footing. You just have to put more effort into supporting your kids through a couple of years of a less than ideal school district. But I echo the post before me….
