Nikii, I'm also in NJ and struggled to buy a property. What I did was buy a 2 family in a lower cost area (union county) than where I am from (bergen county). I also did the FHA loan with 3% down. The rental income from the 2nd unit covered a large amount of the mortgage, allowing me to save most of my income for another property. Now I'm back in a single family in my preferred area. If you can stand tenants, this is a good strategy for first time buyers.
You can also look for a fixer upper and renovate over time. For example, this weekend I went to an open house in Westwood and saw a nice single-family house (but old, needed updating) for 345k, which is cheap for the area. 5% down on that would be under 20k, and you'd be in a great school district. Deals like that ARE around, you just have to search.
If you are north jersey, I can refer you to the realtor who helped us find and buy our house. he was very patient, showing us at least a dozen properties until we settled on one. Also, getting a pre approval will help with being taken seriously. Good luck!