If he's in Virginia (I was there 9 years), it takes a significant income to have a home. My old one bedroom condo at 835 sqft was 240k in 2005. A single family

If he's in Virginia (I was there 9 years), it takes a significant income to have a home. My old one bedroom condo at 835 sqft was 240k in 2005. A single family home in a reasonable neighborhood starts at $300k pretty easily which is easily 2-3x prices here in Austin. The problem is that salaries in DC aren't double Austin.. they're more like 1.3-1.5x. Also, once you're about the 50k threshold for income, some of those deductions - like for student loans - start decreasing and disappear.