Future Real Estate Advice For a College Student

[Remington Hough]

First of all, thank you for everyone taking the time to read this forum. I would love all the advice and input from everyone as to the appropriate strategies I can take as a future home owner in my particular financial situation I anticipate to be in 8-10 years from now. As a current college student, this knowledge is key to making the appropriate decisions once I graduate to achieve my goals.

For some background information on myself, I am currently 20 years old and plan to graduate in 2 years with 2 engineering degrees. Based on my job prospects of my industry, I am looking at a starting salary roughly in the $70,000-$90,000 range. I plan to be married to my girlfriend after graduation and she is planning on going to graduate school to be a clinical psychologist, so I am roughly estimating that for the first 6 years after college she will be making minimal income from school stipends. With myself, based off others in my industry at a 6 year experience level, I estimate I will be making roughly $100,000-$120,000 at age 28. 

My initial strategy has been to rent until around age 28, put down a large down payment on my "forever home", have a short length mortgage and call it a day, try to pay it off ASAP. However, after speaking to more people about this idea, I think I am open to possible alternative routes. Like I mentioned above, my girlfriend is currently intending on being a clinical psychologist, so after she graduates at age 28, she will presumably be making around $100,000+ from that point on. I would like to have a "forever home" sooner than later, however depending on where I live (I am considering areas like southern California), I realize that this "forever home" price range (realistically 1 million plus based off some very light snooping around on zillow) is going to possibly be steep. I am not going to settle on this "forever home" and view it as a long term commitment for the good of my family. 

I am going to put a cap of let's just say age 35 as to when I move into this forever home. I am open to all types of suggestions as to the best approach to gain equity, make appropriate financial decisions, etc, whether that is rent until then or buy a starter house. My question to everyone is if you are in my situation, how would you approach this given the background information about my family's income and desires? I appreciate all the help!