I don’t have a great answer for you, but one thing I learned from buying my first house is that you don’t have to put down as big of a down payment as you might think. My wife and I did 3.5%. We were fortunate that we made a good amount and had good credit, but we had very little in savings. We were both putting a ton toward student loans.

Although a small down payment is tough to swallow these days considering that means you’re financing more house at 7% plus.