Buy to live and then one day rent or sell. What do I do?

[Monique Harps]

I am interested in real estate investment and would like to start buy buying a place that I can live in for a few years so I am not throwing away money on rent. When I am done living in it I would be open to selling or renting.

My goal would be to get into something that would cost less than renting in the area (around $700 per month).  I have $20K for down payment and $8K for other cost.

What should I do? What should I take into consideration? Should I just rent and keep saving money?