Use savings to pay off debt or buy a multi-family home??

[Gustavo Rodriguez]

Hello everyone,

For those that may have more experience than me, this might be an obvious question, but I have been wrestling with it for a while so here it goes. My wife an I have always talked about buying a home, but have always fallen short of saving for one. We are now in the process of saving for one again, but we have about $100,000 worth fo debt together that we have to pay between students loans and personal. We also rent an apt for $1,600 and I have two children. My question is the following: Would it be wiser to pay off our debt first before purchasing a home considering that a bank may not give us a loan due to our debt or should we attempt to use our savings to the buy a home? I would like to begin real estate on the right foot and be in it for the long haul and not just short term. Anyone with experience please chime in. Thank you