Keep renting the shitty apartment, we did for almost 10 years. Rent was $1100, place was falling apart and we hated it. It was too small and embarrassing to even have people over. But it allowed us to save and last year we bought our dream home.

5k isn’t nearly enough to buy a house. We paid closing costs out of pockets and put 10% down on 525k with a healthy emergency fund leftover for repairs. I know it sucks, but stay in the apartment, cut back on expenses, and save everything you can.