Just anecdotal, but a friend of mine and her husband were in a bad car accident where the other driver was drunk and very well-insured. They were looking at buying a home a few months later - the husband had a traumatic brain injury and couldn't work (he can now, thankfully) and the other had a job, but it was relatively low paying for how much house they wanted to buy. Because of the insurance pay out, they were basically independently wealthy and could have afforded to pay for their house many times over, but wanted to get a loan so they could invest the money vice putting it in a house. Just as electriceagle said, the mortgage was an absolute no go. They ended up paying for the house in cash.