re: Question about using fiancée's income when buying a home

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The issue is - you're overextending yourself at the worst possible time - every bad money decision you make now (and I know, I made hundreds of them) reverberate for DECADES. You know what else is true? Good ones do, too.

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Heed all of Ace's advice. He knows his stuff.

Here is how we bought our first home:

Saved $20k, no debt, on one income while one of us was still in school. Used 1st time homebuyer program, EBR Parish bond money, for down payment assistance. That way we still had cash on hand to replace a big ticket item like an air conditioner.
Found a fixer-upper in a really good neighborhood and did most of the work ourselves with cash a little at a time. Over seven years, it nearly doubled in value. We then had 85k to put towards a newer house.

Let's say the two of you combined make 100k/year. Live on 40, pay off your student loans in one year while living in an $1100/month rental. Year Two, you save 60k and have your 20% down payment plus a decent amount of cash. Then, you buy the 200k house.

Also, why deal with yardwork, honey-do lists etc when you are young, childless and still want to go out and have fun on the weekends? Take it easy and enjoy your marriage for the first few years.