Househunting: Buying a house when you're about to quit your job

It sounds like a recipe for disaster, right?

Actually, it might be the best decision for me, if I can find a place I can afford.

So, in order to get an apartment that has everything you need to live (like air conditioning and washer-dryer hookups) in Orange County, you have to pay upwards of 1300/month. We started out paying 1400/month for the place we have right now, and it's currently closer to 1600/ month. This is leaving very little extra for stuff like food, clothing, and paying off credit card debt, which is currently more important than food or clothing to me.

The other option is to buy a condo or townhouse, or, yes, even a mobile home. A 150,000 home will run you about 800/m mortgage payment. The drawback is that just about everywhere you go in OC, there is an association fee upwards of 200/m. The nice ones are around 400/m. The plan we have right now (my mother and I) is to have her cosign a loan if she can, get a three-bedroom whatever (I'm great with a mobile home as long as I can put flamingos on the lawn and christmas lights on the porch all year long) and rent out the master bedroom for about 500/m (depending) and have a goood chunk of the mortgage taken care of until after I get out of college, which I should start going to full time next summer/fall. (Summer I may go part-time, but just because you really can take only one class in the summer since the semester is so short.)

Now, on one hand this whole thing is frightening. I don't mind TMIing you and saying that every time I look at a property I like, I get a tickly feeling in my large intestine. It's scary as hell, but I feel like it's the best option for me and my mom right now. The only other option would be to get a one-bedroom, which would still run us aroun 1300/m. It's really horrid.

On the other hand, this is a really good decision. Lowering the house payment, hopefully taking on a renter, and getting an FHA or HUD loan are good things. They're designed for people like me. My job even has an assistance program, which is one of the only perks of working for the government.

We shall see how it all goes.