This single Tennessee teacher makes $60K/year while working side gigs — and he can't afford a home in his own community. Here's the expert advice he got

There are times when homeownership may not be for everyone — even for those who really want one. Just ask a Knoxville, Tennessee-area school teacher who recently received some tough advice from The Ramsey Show after he called in seeking counsel about how to buy a home on a $60,000 annual income in a real estate market where homes routinely fetch $300,000 or more.

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The hosts repeatedly reminded James of the dreary math that’s working against him and suggested he consider an inexpensive townhome or push his home search further away from his job to find something cheaper. He could also wait until he’d cleared “Baby Step 2” — the second rung on the Ramsey ladder in which adherents start paying down their debt.

The anchors were sympathetic but blunt: “Being a world-class teacher in a great part of the country doesn’t change the math of ‘I wanna own a home.’”

The hard-to-hear truth

The show’s skepticism over James’s readiness rests on Dave Ramsey’s rule that no more than 25% of one’s take-home pay should go toward a mortgage. Anything more than that, Ramsey believes, is an overextension that risks your financial health — especially if you have debt. (Remember, too, another key tenet of Ramsey’s home-buying philosophy: Put at least 20% down to remove the cost of private mortgage insurance.)