Boston area? Plenty of places where a two engineer family can buy within 30 mins. Belmont, Malden, Melrose, Somerville, Chelsea, Revere, Dorchester, West Roxbury, parts of Arlington and Cambridge all should have affordable (for two engineers) housing.
$200K down and $166K annual income and you can buy the whole $1MM property. $83K/pp income seems completely reasonable for two engineers (and crazy low for two SWEs!) in their 30s.
With a combined annual income of only $85K/yr and $100K down, you can buy a $500K property. No way are two engineers in 30s making less than that... (Two train engineers driving for Keolis make more than that.) Without a 20% down payment, you need a little more income, but it's still well within reach of normal professionals who decide they want to prioritize buying a property.
