u/Disastrous-Bit9033

My partner and I are 25 and 26 with a 2-year-old daughter and another baby due in December 2026. We currently live with my parents rent-free since their mortgage is paid off, but we cover utilities, pest control, and most groceries. We originally planned to buy a home with a $3,400/month PITI and put 10% down. The plan was for me to work full time once our daughter turned 2 and started daycare, but now that I’m pregnant, I would likely have to leave a full-time job after the baby is born due to limited childcare for infants. We are now leaning toward renting instead. My partner currently brings home about $6,000–6,200/month after taxes, and I bring in about $975/month part time. We also have a $477 car payment with about 3 years left. We have around $58k in savings, with about $51,500 originally planned for the down payment and closing costs. I have a small CalPERS retirement account, and my partner currently has no retirement savings. Rent in our area would likely be around $2,100–2,300/month plus utilities, which would allow us to pay off the car faster and save more. My partner’s long-term goal is to become an owner-operator truck driver (he would do sooner if we rent), which could significantly increase income, but since he would be 1099, we’ve heard qualifying for a mortgage may become more difficult. Renting would also allow me to stay home with our youngest until at least age 2 before returning to full-time work. My biggest concern is being priced out of the housing market in Central California, especially since homes are already difficult to find in the town we want to live in.

We are looking at a new build in the town I grew up in, PITI would be 3320/mo but we would like to give 3400 just in case escrow goes up. We currently make 6975-7200/ month take home. When we started looking at this house back in Feb/March the plan was for our daughter to begin daycare when she turned two (she just did in May), and I was going to get a full time job to increase our monthly income. I am now pregnant and will have to leave my part time job at the end of the year due to various reason (lack of childcare in my area accepting infants, cost, breastfeeding etc) so we will loose about $ 1000 per month now. This will obviously be temporary until my second child is about 1/2 y/o and is accepted into child care. We are now debating whether to continue with the process or stop and rent for that timeframe instead (rent would be about 2k-2500/mo) . We live in Central California homes range about 400k-500k in my area. Our fear is being priced out due to this temporary setback. We did the math and we would be left with very little money at the end of the month (500-1000) until I can work full time again after all our expenses/utilities/ debts are paid.