Buy or Rent (Need some advice)

[Anonymous]

Thanks for everyone's advice.  I will go ahead with my rent plan and rent for 6 months (5 if I could) to eliminate the lengthy drive to work daily and give myself more time and the experience of living on my own and paying a "mortgage" like payment.

In 12 months from now, I'll have saved up enough to put something good down and have a good 4-6 months backup in savings for both unexpected repairs and unexpected layoffs.

Thanks again for your help!

[Anonymous]

To put the icing on the cake, my loan counselor advised that it is better to pay rent prior to purchasing a home because it is looked at as a "shock" payment to pay mortgage if you have not previously paid rent or something along those lines. It made sense to me.

[Anonymous]

As another thought, for when/if you do decide to purchase, you can always get a condo or a townhome and that way the only repairs you're looking at are the ones inside the home.  You'll have to pay a monthly fee, but you won't need to worry about the roof/siding/driving/lawn, etc.