@oceanbay wrote:So, my thought is this: I live in a high-growth and a very expensive market (Seattle). Home values are increasing by at least 5% each year, while my salary is not. There are several short sale homes that are around 100k below their actual value (they are in fantastic shape, too). My thought is if I could get a great house in a great location with a huge discount, I would already have major equity in the house and all of my rent would go into an investment, rather go to rent (waste).
Unfortunately, I do not have a down payment, but I wonder if there are other things I could do to come up with the down payment?
put part of your salary in a savings account you don't have everyday access to and check it every 6 months
@Anonymous wrote:looks like you gross 9,000 a month and pay 1,700 in rent that leaves 7.300 should be easy to save at least 5,000 a month in 6 months buy a house i guess i missed something
Possibly the loan payments, and the cost of living, plus being young 
Since I was living in Seattle just a year ago, I can testify for the high cost of living there. Though state income tax is nil, many things in Seattle are expensive, including, but not limited to, property taxes.
My take on this, which actually has little to do with money or credit, is that there is too much uncertainty about the OP's and his girlfriend's lives for them to consider buying something as permanent as a house. Since this is their first year living together in a big city, there are many things to do, to see, and to try, being tying their lives together and to a house. Buying a house together is a huge commitment. I would wait to be a little more mature before making such a big decision. The flexibility of renting, which admittedly is intangible, is often under-rated.
"We could get a decent $300,000 house and pay less than what we do now and have something to show for our money"
...have you actually ran the numbers on that?
...If you purchase a $300,000 home with an FHA loan at 4.250% and put 3.5% ($10,500 down), your loan payment will be more than your current rent
...and this does NOT include monthly escrow for taxes and insurance which in your area would be significant
...nor does it include maintenance costs which vary but are not inconsiderable
...and the tax savings are not all that much at your current income level
...and thats assuming that those "650" credit scores you cited are actual FICO 04 numbers and not FAKO or FICO 08 numbers?
You might want to sit down with your housemate and really look the numbers over again.
