Hi there, sorry for the late reply! I appreciate your feedback. I probably should have been more specific about that homebuyers program we've been looking into.

The way it works is that if you are a teacher, fire, or EMS that you would be able to purchase a home, in a specific neighborhood that fits their criteria through their website, you would be able to purchase it for 50% of the list price. So something like this makes an enormous difference in terms of what an ideal down payment is, a safe annual income, etc. The only downsides to this are that we would have to be quite specific of location and we would have to live there for a minimum of three years, however to save a few hundred thousand I am more than willing to follow said rules.

Ideally, I want to have at the very least $40K to put down, as it would be a first home purchase, but obviously the bigger down payment, the better. I also wouldn't even consider within this next year as the market is absolutely insane and the mortgage rates are really skyrocketing.

I guess I really am just wondering if paying rent is as an enormous waste of money that I fear it is. I hate the idea of paying so much into something I don't even own.

As for an adequate emergency fund, I know everyone's idea is a bit different, to me it's been a goal of 6 months salary. What do you recommend?