Below are some tips that you can follow to increase your home buying budget to $40K a year. They are –  1. Increase your down payment 2. Pay down some of your existing debt 3. Use a piggyback loan to put 20% down 4. Try a 3%-down conventional loan 5. Try a 3.5%-down FHA loan 6. Increase your credit score 7. Negotiate with the seller 8. Consider buying a multi-family home