@Jon Burkhart First off, welcome! Second, I am a real estate agent in Chicago land area (Du Page County - I live in Roselle area) I do not know your area, although nice, I am probably not best source of knowledge for houses/investments in your area. Third, glad to hear you and your spouse make so much dough; with respect to the debt, are you paying juice on the $10k right now? What kind of debt is it - revolving, car, installment, medical? My recommendation: if its high interest, stop thinking about buying a house and pay off the debt. If its debt that does not bare interest, from a responsible perspective pay the debt off ASAP, but, from the "I gotta do what I gotta do to get my rear in gear" perspective, I would be stashing that capital to buy a property. On the other hand, like @Simon Campbell said, it will be much more expensive to own than it is to rent, but, here is a concept, why don't you downsize and pay less in rent in somewhere? If it is just you and the wifey, tell her your goals and desires for your family, and convince her to move in a one bedroom somewhere and bite the bullet to save more money. To most, this is unreasonable, and, for those that are married, myself included, may find our spouses to find this suggestion unacceptable... Whatever, its your prerogative. So, do what you must, but sometimes we have to reverse engineer the thought process by thinking of "how can I reduce spending." With all that being said, all I can say is if you and your wife make $150k a year and you have no savings because your buying this or that, paying off debt excessively (which I commend), etc, etc; you both may not have the best grip on your finances as a unit. Don't take it personal or offensive, but, the fact is, if you had made better choices with regard to the wedding, honeymoon, cheaper rent, car payment, wherever those debts came from (excluding medical) then you could have bought your house pre-wedding and been living there right after the honeymoon. Best thing about your situation is you make A LOT of money! You can dig yourself out of this easy. Consider what I mentioned above, and, in answer to your question about a creative way to get into a new house: I suggest you don't try and get creative. Instead, get in CONTROL of your finances. Make some deliberate choices with your wife about money. Save some money, and then get the house. Home ownership can be a gift, or, it can be a curse - depending on how you treat your money will render that answer.
P.S. I teach individuals and couples about personal finances (it's my way of giving back to my community, and it's a hobby) through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University in local Church's. Look up the program and check it out at your local Church or just buy the program and do it in home. It is rock solid stuff to build a strong foundation for investing in the future. Good luck!
