To purchase a home right out of college, or not?

[FL2MT]

I'd echo what others have said and rent for at least 6 months or preferably a year first. Check out all the neighborhoods, get out of the car and walk or bike around them. Talk to the people out washing their cars or doing yardwork and ask them questions about how the neighborhood is, was, and how it's changed.

Re: Interest rates - The Fed has said they plan to keep interest rates low through 2013. Things can change of course, but from that it sounds like we're not heading back to 5% plus mortgage rates anytime soon so you should have time on that front. Also hard to imagine home values going much of anywhere in the near term. No need to rush.

At your young age mobility is a plus. Sometimes locations or jobs don't always turn out to be what we thought they would and with renting you'll have more options to relocate if that's what you decide to do. I'm amazed at how many people move away, then as soon as they have kids they move back to live near parents/grandparents/extended family.

Keep in mind also, that every buy/sell cycle you go through ends up costing you around 10% of the home price (6% commission, moving costs, setup costs, etc). This is one of the reasons that the advice is to only buy if you plan to stay somewhere for AT LEAST 5 years. If you decide to up and move every 3 years you're going to spend more on sales commissions and moving expenses than you get back in normal price appreciation (which historically has tracked with inflation).

Once you've rented for awhile you should know if it's somewhere you'll be 5+ years later (again, consider if you'll be having kids and moving back near family after they come along) and hopefully you can find the right place for you.