Mine and Yours Forever

I don't like the idea of a "Forever House." It might just be HGTV jargon, but the idea of living in one house for 30+ years is a bit far fetched. At the rate that cities are growing, and the rate that people are switching jobs, people are more likely to have a house as an investment and not for forever.

Bringing me to our latest development, the possibility of purchasing a home versus renting for the next 5 years. This info graphic is cool, but may be a bit off. They definitely need to update their rental rates by area...

For the most part, all of our friends are home owners. We've been told that if we can afford to rent a $1,400+ month-to-month, we can certainly afford a house. With the housing market as it is, and the easier qualifications for first-time home buyers, buying should not be as daunting as I'm taking it. Even if we are a little behind the curve when it comes to a realistic timeline.

Do we have the salaries? Yes. 
Do we have a good down payment? Kinda.
We originally promised that we wouldn't buy a house until we were both out of student loan debt; a goal that is about 7 years away. At that point, we would look for a home that had ample space, in a good school district and we would have accumulated enough assets and credit that we wouldn't have to worry about loan approval.

I'm hoping the reality and some deserved optimism will find a balance in the coming month. I just created a list of must-haves for our "potential future home." Things we were looking for in a rental are now placed in the category of either "must have" or "can be added/remodeled later." 

Could this really be our "forever" home?