The key to answering this question is asking where you will be living. I am a teacher, I've lived as a single in two areas, one inside and one outside Chittenden county. The difference is vast. If you will be outside Chittenden country, you'll be fine.

You'd have better luck buying a condo, especially if you can afford the 3.5% down (if this is your first equity purchase). Condos in the state run from 50,000 to 200,000 in every county, which is 1750 to 7000 cash on hand. If you can swing that, you'll be far better off.

My monthly payment went from $900 renting to about $750 (HOA included) buying. Then when I was done with the condo, I sold it for a very small profit that I was able to use towards the next one. I've built up several hundred thousand in equity in a short time. You're not at the mercy of your landlord and condos are generally better kept as well.

I wouldn't go above 200k in your situation. Plus, if you find a partner down the road and you two want to get hitched (or whatever) and buy a place together, the sale of your condo will generate a nice down payment on a home.

I teach financial literacy. The process is not that hard. The first step is to get the money together. The second is to reach out to a place that can find you a qualified lender at the best APR. Lending Tree does that easily, but the best imo is here. Since they are motivated to sell, they basically do the rest of the work by asking you to provide information.

Anyway, gl to your process