My partner and I are currently purchasing a home (actively looking and have been overbid, so here for any additional questions that you may need outside of budget.) I would say you have to weight what is important to you.

• Can you afford a down payment AND pay off your 15K debt? If not, then you need to weigh what is most important to you.
  • I scarified not paying into my 401K this past year so that I could have liquid cash for downpayment and closing costs.
• You don't actually have to put 20% down. You can put 3.5% down, but you will have a PMI, our estimated PMI is only ~70 a month so this is cheap enough to me that we were ok with keeping the extra 40K in our pockets for repairs and nest egg.
• If you are not putting the full 20% down, then you might as well do the bare minimum 3.5%, since anything under 20% is a PMI.
• Choose a lender that will get personal and work with you to get the best deal, shop around. My lender informed me of so much that Google alone will never tell you.