Can we afford a starter home with prices and rates so high?
More often than you’d guess, because “too expensive” describes one price tier and one loan rather than the whole state. In July 2026 the median single-family home in Massachusetts sold for $715,000 and the median condominium sold for $565,000, and the two moved in opposite directions.
The rate has more give in it than you’d think. A seller can pay toward buying it down, and the loan you use decides how much room you get.
You’ve probably read the rent-versus-buy argument already, and we work that comparison out elsewhere. Not one of the three things that decide this one is a fact about you.
Which Price Should We Measure Against?
Most couples grade themselves against the statewide single-family median, which is the tier they’re least likely to buy in. The Massachusetts Association of REALTORS put the July 2026 single-family median at $715,000 and the condominium median at $565,000. Condominium fees are a separate line and worth pricing early. Single-family rose 2.9 percent from a year earlier while condominium came in down 1.4 percent.
One figure there matters more than the price. At the median, single-family homes sold for 100.7 percent of their original asking price and condominiums sold for 98.6 percent. Sellers in one tier are fielding competing offers. Sellers in the other are waiting, and a seller who’s waiting will listen to a request.
Can the Seller Help Pay for the Rate?
Often, up to a cap, and the cap is the part worth knowing. HUD’s handbook lets the seller, the agents, or the builder contribute up to 6 percent of the sales price toward origination fees, closing costs, prepaids and discount points. That 6 percent covers permanent and temporary rate buydowns too. Fannie Mae’s guide runs tighter on a conventional loan above 90 percent loan-to-value, where the ceiling on financing concessions is 3 percent.
So the same condominium, the same seller and the same buyer can carry double the negotiating room depending on which rulebook the loan follows. Two limits travel with it. Contributions can’t cover your down payment or reserves, and a seller-funded buydown counts inside the cap rather than on top.
Two questions worth asking out loud before anyone writes an offer:
- On this exact loan, is the contribution cap 6 percent or 3 percent?
- Can that money buy the rate down, or only cover closing costs?
Does a Two-Family Help Us Qualify?
On the income side it does. FHA lets rent from the other unit count as effective income when you live in a two- to four-unit property. The down payment floor doesn’t move for unit count either, because the minimum required investment is still 3.5 percent. You can count no more than 75 percent of the lower of the appraiser’s market rent and the lease, and often less. MassHousing down payment assistance reaches $30,000, deferred with no interest until you sell or refinance. It covers a two, three or four family you live in.
Two corrections, because most of what’s written about buying a two-family gets them backwards. First, the lender adds that rent to your gross income and can’t use it to shrink the payment itself. It improves your ratios and leaves the bill alone. Second, the self-sufficiency test that scares buyers away from small multifamily applies to three and four unit properties. A two-family qualifies on the buyers. The building doesn’t have to pay for itself.
None of this makes a house affordable by itself. It does mean your answer is a number somebody can go get for you. And waiting for a friendlier market means waiting outside the tier that’s already friendlier. GoldCoast is a broker, so a pre-qualification costs nothing and commits you to nothing. If the number says wait another year, that’s what you’ll hear.