[pudley4]

Rent. At least for a year.

Many good reasons have been given so far. I think the best is the "unexpected costs" involved in buying/owning a house. You may have appliances you need to buy/repair. You have maintenance costs (lawn/garden, household maintenance - lights/pipes/doors/windows/etc). You have more furniture you'll buy to fill up the place (trust me - even though you say you won't buy any, you will). You will spend a LOT more your first year in a house than you will in an apartment. Plus, that little bundle of joy is going to suck you dry [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Also, since you're brand new to the area, how will you know what kind of neighborhood you're moving into? Are you really going to trust some real estate agent you've never met before to get you into the right area? If you're in a bad area, good luck reselling the house in a year, plus you'll get royally screwed by all the fees/commissions you have to pay when you sell.

By far your best choice is to rent a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment for a year, then reassess where you're at. Saving during this year, which will give you more to put down when you do buy, will actually help you in the long run, because you won't be paying a higher interest rate on the second loan (or paying PMI) if you can get to 20% down. Even if you can't, you'll have a smaller loan to pay off. You'll also be better informed as to where you'd like to live (taking into account neighborhood, schools, commute, etc).

I speak from experience on this one (moved 2x in the last 2 years, once just before having a baby)