My husband is in his final year of medical school, so we are debating a lot of pros/cons for his match list (where he will go for residency). Part of that debate is the cost of rentals- we have always rented, and planned to rent until we were settled more permanently, when we were thinking about building.

The area we live in right now has crazy rental prices. We are really hoping to move from our apartment into a single-family home, but if we stay in this area its pretty difficult to find a rental that is affordable.

We have a good chunk of money in savings, and now we are talking about what other options might be- like buying a small "starter home" to get us through the 3-years of residency (our mortgage would be less than half of what comparable rentals go for). The challenge is, we would probably need to be able to sell again in 3-years, because we'd be moving for his new job.

I know all of this depends a lot on the area/market/our financial situation, so I'm wondering a few things:

1. What are your thoughts on buying for a short period of time? Pros/Cons?
2. Who can we talk to in order to get some honest & helpful advice- the bank? a private financial counselor?