My wife and I are in our late 20's early 30's. I didn't do a good job following the rules of money management, and before i met her 4 years ago, my credit was shot. Now my credit is up in the mid 700s, hers is higher than mine. However, we don't have much capital. My car was recently totaled. And since we have another car, and I work from home, I pocketed the total-loss payment of $15k. We have another 5k saved which gives us 20k.

We gross about 90k/yr together, and i am getting a 10% raise promotion next month, and again in April.

Is it wise use any/all programs available to get into a home with a small or nil down payment? We intend on making this our primary residence, and are only looking to buy a home with a working rental unit attached. OR on the flip side, we have considered getting a loan to buy land and build a home. The cost, where we have found land in zones for residences, would be approx 50k for the land and 208k for the build, according to the avg cost of building a home in suffolk county new york. Thats roughly 260k, and we wouldnt need to take on so much liability, which we would if we had to buy a fully grown home -- most homes are selling from 400-800k here.

You guys are the men and women who know this stuff. Will you please lend me your advice?