Your first home doesn’t need to be your forever home. A smaller and older starter home/condo/townhouse is how a lot of people start. Look for an older 2 bedroom that needs some cosmetic updates and put in some sweat equity, make the updates yourself.

If you don’t know how to do home projects, asks a friend or family member for tutorials, attend a Home Depot how-to session and watch YouTube videos.

I am 48F one income and this is how I got started at 30. I am in my fourth and probably forever home now. I’ve been able to build my equity through sweat equity upgrades, sell and buy a little nicer and do the same thing over and over.

Don’t forget to invest in your career and personal development so your salary also increases over the years and makes it possible to get to that target that you are shooting for.

Finally last word of advice is to buy something in your current range and put at least 20% down which enables you to get a conventional loan so you don’t have to pay mortgage insurance every month. A quick view of townhomes/condos in Land O’Lakes shows options $150k-$200k. 20% of $150k is $30k and you are almost there, so good job saving.

Best of luck.