When entering a expensive market, should I look at an affordable condo or something bigger with a space I can rent out?

[Justin Franz]

Basically I am a 26 yr old civil engineering student who will graduate by Christmas and my girlfriend is a high school teacher. We are going to be living in either Calgary, Alberta or Kelowna, British Columbia (Canada) I have looked at a lot of online listings and done a lot of number crunching but am quite clueless.

Does it make more sense to buy a condo that I can pay off in ten years or buy a starter home for about double the price and have a rental unit to supplement the mortgage? I will be graduating with less than 10k of debt and am very frugal, as is my girlfriend.

I am very ambitious and love out side the box ideas. I am also looking for this to be the first step of eventually owning my dream home.

I know this is on par with asking "How do I raise a child in 100 words or less?" but now that I am close to graduating, I am getting very excited about the possibilities

TL;DR: Am I better starting off with a condo or a house with a rental suite?