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I've been reducing my debt for years to realize my dream of owning a house. I've paid off over $70,000 of my student debt over the last 5 years, but I still have $24,000 to go. Still, I am very close to having enough paid off that I can get a house much earlier than I expected. I looked into getting a mortgage recently, but they said that my debt is still too high to lend to me despite having a good credit score and credit history. In an effort to reduce my debt further and faster, I thought that a good option would be to ditch my car loan (19k) and take over someone else's lease. I figure that this way I will wipe $14K off my books, instantly reducing my total debt obligation (apartment rent, car lease, student debt) from $47K to 33K. My other option is getting a used car, the problem is that this would add the same amount of debt or subtract from the 30K I saved for a down payment. I would also run the risk of having to pay for repairs if I got unlucky with a car purchase. On my current trajectory (considering I get rent similar to the one I have now when my company moves) I will be debt free in 3 years if I wait to buy a house. If I buy a house I will be done with all of my school and car debt in a little over 1.5 years and save an estimated 2-3K in Interest. I will also be able to capitalize on the low mortgage rates and have the pleasure of owning my own home. My hope is to get a $70-110K mortgage between December and March. I'd just like a second opinion from some of the people on this message board to see how sound my plans are.