<prompt> Human: This is more a cry for help. I need some wisdom and perspective.Back in 2007, my wife and I bought into the American Dream and payed 250k for a tiny house that was really worth half that or less. We couldnt afford it once we had our first child and went down to one income, and everything imploded. Markets crashed, job transfer out of state, failed attempt to rent it out, short sale, bankruptcy. A stupid decision with harsh consequences.We spent several years in Florida renting and recovering. Then I got a great job offer in Texas last year and we moved out to the DFW area, got a huge pay bump from 65k to 85k and decided to rent a house until we could decide on potentially buying.A year has gone by, weve saved about 13k, and started looking.Heres the thing: I love the job, and the people, but I feel beaten down by the housing options. It feels so expensive to live in this country, and I feel surrounded by vampires trying to drain every penny out of my paycheck. The options:- Buy a house today on an FHA 30 year fixed with only 3.5 down, draining the savings account. Est. Monthly would be about 1,800. Housing market in DFW is high and fast. Value most likely to drop. Taxes, PMI, HOA, Utilities. No emergency fund.- Spend 2 plus years, aggressively saving up 50k to put 20 down on a 15 year fixed conventional loan with no PMI, draining the savings account. Est. Monthly also 1,800 or so. No emergency fund. Market possibly higher and faster by then.- Move out of the rental house into a small apartmenttrailer that costs more like 1,000month. This sacrifices safety, invites strange neighbors and bad experiences. Quality of life in the toilet. All to save towards a house, which is a huge unknown.- Buy a 5th wheel and a truck, move into it and pay for a spot in an RV park 500-600month just for that. Total est. Monthly 1,100 to 1,400. Reduced utilities overall, marginally safer than the apartment option, quality of life sacrifices and gains. Mixed bag and two depreciating assets. Not worth it unless we could save a LOT and travel. My job is not mobile.- Foreclosures dont exist here. Small houses for cheaper dont exist here. Property taxes are among the highest in the US. It feels wrong to me that one could make 87k and not be able to have a better life. All I really want are some woods to walk in and a reasonable house payment. I dont want a boring cookie-cutter house in a zero lot line neighborhood with no back yard. 3 years ago you could get a 32 here for 180k. So I am getting paid well, but cant afford to responsibly buy a house because tax assessors, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, insurance salesmen and HOAs are all getting paid well too.rpersonalfinance is filled with conservative, wise people who seem to be able to get on track to a future. Somehow I feel trapped and unable to beat the system. Sorry for the dump-truck of emotion. Im frustrated. Looking for a really creative way to live AND save. Thanks for listening, RPF.  <response>: None of those options sound great. How about just being patient and saving up at least 10 plus an emergency fund plus closing costs? 