To be frank, here is some advice related to buying a house: If you buy one retail but actually don't need to buy it to keep your significant other happy enough with you to keep giving you head (and other sexual pleasurings), you're a sucker.
To avoid being a sucker, buy a financially distressed property (e.g. through a sheriff sale or finding one turned back to the bank, and you can hunt down the property manager at the bank who handles the disposition of such properties). I did so at a sheriff sale in 2004, and upon closing a month after the auction, had $30-$40k in equity in a house in a decent suburban development that I paid less than $150k, for including closing costs. And did so using only about $30k of savings, most of which I would have been able to pull out immediately with a HELOC.
But watever you decide, good luck with that.