consolidation with intention to purchase a home

[ZrOuT]

I have recently finished college, had a job lined up already etc... I've been working for about a year and a half now since graduation and everything is going well, never sent in a late SL payment etc..

 

1) I owe about 80k in student loans

2) I make enough to easily pay them and live on, but I got engaged recently and we are seriously looking at purchasing a property

3) Few of my loans are for 160months/15years. Some are Federal Direct loans (~$10k), Sallie Mae(~15k), AES (~$5), Great Lakes (~50k).

 

All my interest rates stink, 5.8, 6.2 etc... I don't have my PIN handy to check my federal loans, but those are probably the only half decent interest rates.

 

4) my credit is as PERFECT as it could be for me. Never a late payment on anything in my life.

 

I've tried a few online consolidation places and they cut my $800/month payment to about $450/500. Since my interest rates are high already I'm guessing it's only by extending the loan to 30 years correct? (or some other "longer" term).

 

So here's the question. Is it worth it? The extra $300/month would allow us to purchase a home. I'm expecting a decent raise very soon as is my fiancee so with all these things combined we wouldn't make "just enough" to purchase a home and have $5 left every month, but we would have $500-700 extra per month for emergencies etc... (I know even that doesn't seem like much, but there's nothing more we want than our own house and we are trying to avoid renting any way we can).

 

am I correct that these consolidation places only extend the repayment period of the loan if your interest is already high? and if so, would you do it if your ultimate goal was to purchase a home ASAP ?

 

Thanks for any suggestions or opinions.