[Vampyr]

That stuff is true, and something I have considered, but there is also a large amount of risk and maintenance cost associated with owning a house - in an apartment I really don't have anything to worry about or any extra costs associated with it.

Also, if my plan is to buy everything up front (house, car, etc), then having a credit rating really wouldn't be very important to me.

I may change my mind on this, though...mostly for the same reasons you've mentioned. I'm not set in stone on it, but if nothing else I will at least save up until I can pay for 20% - 30% of the house.