My wife and I are starting to think about whether we should buy a house. We had our local bank check out our financials just to see if it was even possible to buy now, and they said we were in really good shape (we both have good credit scores). However, I'm worried about getting a mortgage with no down payment. We could wait and save up, but I hate the idea of that money just sitting there when we could be paying down debt. However, with that mindset we couldn't even think about buying a home until after we have paid off the loans, which is a bit depressing.
Some numbers:
Our rent is $1,150/month. Might go up 3% next year, according to our landlord.
We have $100K in student loans. Highest interest rate 7.9%, average about 6%.
We have $12K on a credit card at 0% until February, then 11.24%.
$1K emergency fund
Combined salary of around $90K (variable, I'm a self employed web developer).
Two questions:
1. What should we be focusing on putting our money towards now?
2. At what point should we be seriously considering buying a home?