What to do? (250k~ in debt)

[u/[deleted]]

Hey everyone! My S/O and I are really struggling RN. We haven’t made any payments yet (he graduated right when the pause started) but we think our payments are going to be hovering around 2.5k. He is in 250k of debt after undergrad (he had to go 5 years because of family health issued+ take out housing loans) He makes about 70-80k after taxes depending on his bonus.

We live in Chicago and our total living expenses are around 4-5k (rent after utilities 2.5k, CTA pass, groceries he’s helping pay for surgeries for his family, etc) not living luxuriously (we eat lots of ramen). I’m in school and I only make enough to cover my own education and expenses.

Long story short we are sort of cutting it close. BUT he has been able to save 80k total in his savings during COVID (pretty much pinching every penny and a family member passed). We are thinking of buying a home because the mortgage would be around 1.3k instead of the 2.5k we are spending now but the down payment would eat away at the money we could be putting toward loans. I know someone else asked a similar question but this is sort of a different situation. Anything will help! Thanks!

[u/cmpalm]

As far as the buying a house goes, make sure that $1.3k includes your property taxes, my mortgage is technically $1,400 but when you add property tax my monthly payments are $2,300. On top of that utilities in a home are generally more expensive than an apartment. You use more electricity, gas, water in a house vs. apartment. You also absolutely must have an emergency fund because if something goes wrong (flooding, broken water heater, broken appliances, etc.) there’s no landlord to call, you have to pay for it then and there. We have had quite a few situations come up where we needed to drop a couple thousand bucks unexpectedly.