Well, I just got back from my first housing appointment. It sounds like it actually might work out. The houses aren't that cute-they don't have any personality, but they are NEW and there are a lot of perks that come with that:

No unexpected repairs for a long time.
They come with all new appliances with 5-10 yr. warranties.
They are energy efficient.
The heating/cooling company is under contract to give you an amount your heating/cooling should cost per month. If it goes over that amount, they repay you the difference.
If we pick a house that isn't finished, we can pick cabinets, countertops, paint colors, etc.

The houses are 1250 square feet, 3br/2bath, with a full standing room attic, so we'll have plenty of storage. They are about $145k, but they put $45k into a 0% loan deferred for 30 years, so you don't ahve to worry about it at all until you sell it or pay off the first mortgage. So we'll have to get a mortgage for $100k and we'll only have to put $5k down which means we could actually get some furniture. Not that I'd spend $5k on furniture, but I'd like to go to IKEA and get a few things. AND, one of the best parts is that since they are putting $45k into the house as a deferred loan, that is way over 20% so we won't have to pay mortgage insurance at all. That will save us a ton of money. It looks like we can do this for about $700/month, which is less than we rented for last year.

We have a lot of people to talk to and a lot of hoops to jump through, but I am hopefull that this time next year we'll be in something decent. Yay!