I've never been to New England. Two bedroom house at 200K. That's amazing. Our little studio in Miami cost more than that. Anyhow, even with 10% down the loan for such house will be 190 k and the payments somewhere around 1k per month. Add to it, taxes and insurance and poor single mom got herself payments of close to 2k per month. Add to it $500 for food, $300 utilities, $300 medical insurance, $300 car payments, $300 gas then clothes, $200 house repairs, plus all kinds of deductibles and copayments, chid expenses, some other expenses, and her total monthly payments will be over 4k per month. For that, she needs to make, at least, 50k per year, while in 2017 the nominal median income per capita was $31,786. Kind of tough for a single mom.

I resolved it in the story though with a clean slate, assuming that she inherited the house free and clear from her parents. :)