“Our realtor literally laughed at us and then fired us,” said Hope, a recent caller on The Ramsey Show. She is looking for a $350,000 house in Northern Virginia, where that price point barely exists. The realtor’s reaction was rude.
Ken Coleman said it was also honest. Northern Virginia remains the most expensive housing region in the state, and the 2025 year-to-date median home price there reached $664,000, up from $629,500 the prior year. Fairfax County, the anchor market for the region, carried an average sold price of roughly $883,520. Against that backdrop, Coleman’s assessment was blunt: “A $500,000 to $1 million house is going to take a while for you. That’s the real real.”
Why $350,000 on $90,000 Is Still a Stretch
The standard affordability guideline says a mortgage payment should stay at or below 28% of gross monthly income. Hope and her husband make $90,000 annually, putting their target ceiling at roughly $2,100 per month. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.49% as of July 9, 2026, according to Freddie Mac. The couple has saved $25,000 for a down payment, so their loan would be $325,000. At that rate, the principal and interest payment alone runs approximately $2,055 per month before taxes, insurance, or any HOA fees. Total housing costs would push well past the $2,100 ceiling.
Coleman suggested the family grow their income before buying, noting that Hope currently does not work. “Yes, you should go to work,” he said. “Because if you can bring in $50,000, $60,000, and I’m making that up out of thin air, that changes the game.” A household income of $140,000 to $150,000 puts a $350,000 purchase well within reach and makes a $500,000 home a realistic five-year target rather than a fantasy.
Hope said rent currently consumes 43% of their income, leaving only $250 per month after all expenses. “Even if you weren’t looking to buy today, if you just called and said, ‘Hey, my rent’s 43% of my income,’ I’d go, ‘Oh, you gotta go back to work,'” said co-host Jade Warshaw.
One obstacle is childcare for the couple’s 8-month-old son. Coleman offered a practical solution drawn from his own experience: “You have an awesome church community. I’ll bet you, in a short amount of time, we could find a grandmother who’s bored out of her skull, and she wants to get away from her husband for 6, 7 hours a day, and she would love to watch your son and do a little bit of laundry, maybe even some meal prep.”
Coleman said he and his wife used exactly this approach with three children, finding a woman who helped at a fraction of typical daycare costs. Institutional daycare in Northern Virginia runs $1,800 to $2,600 per month for an infant, with center-based care in Fairfax County averaging around $22,000 per year and Arlington running even higher. A community-based arrangement at even half that cost could make returning to work financially viable for Hope’s family.
A Retirement Pause Worth Considering
Warshaw also recommended pausing retirement contributions. “I would completely cut it off,” she said. “I’d cut that off for up to 2 to 3 years while you save for this down payment.” The couple is currently directing about 7% of income toward retirement. Redirecting that money into a down payment fund accelerates the timeline without permanently derailing long-term savings, provided contributions resume once the home is purchased.
Warshaw offered her own timeline as a reference. “It took Sam and I 10 years to be able to save up for a house,” she said. “And let me tell you something, to this day I never go, ‘Oh, the one regret in life is that I had bought my house 8 years earlier.'”
According to the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors, the region’s housing market is expected to find further balance in 2026, with moderate price increases, rates hovering near 6%, and slightly higher inventory. After several years of volatility, the forecast points to a more measured pace of activity, even as affordability remains a persistent challenge for many households. For Hope, the dream is achievable. The timeline just needs adjusting, the income needs expanding, and the community needs to be asked for help.
Editor’s note: This article was updated to include the current Northern Virginia year-to-date median home price of $664,000 from Virginia Realtors’ 2025 data, the Freddie Mac 30-year mortgage rate of 6.49% as of July 9, 2026, and revised Northern Virginia infant daycare costs of $1,800 to $2,600 per month, along with the NVAR 2026 housing market forecast.
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