Yeah, that’s a problem. Honestly, I would be much the same situation if I didn’t marry a good woman 20yrs ago that makes about 4x my income. Paid cash for her phd. Our first house was small, but nice. Affordable. Not a very good neighborhood tho. 13 years later we bought the house we wanted with equity.

You can do it brother. Patience, hard work, frugal living.