FHA is your best bet - you would only need 3.5% down and you would need additional cash for the closing costs or try to get the sellers to pay closing costs (harder in this market when most of the sellers are banks).

That salary is more than enough - although it depends what exact area you want to be in - how many bedrooms, square feet, etc. I'm buying a 3bd/bth in San Fernando but I make around 50k and was approved for a little over 200k.. You should be able to get around 300k depending on your other debts, etc. and this should be enough for some areas like Northridge, Reseda, etc.

The first step is making sure you would qualify with a 610 credit score then finding out up to what loan amount before starting your home search.

Good luck.