I did nothing but locum tenens work for nearly the first two years after finishing residency. Initially, I used the Gainesville condo as a home base, but I was eventually able to convince my wife to move our belongings out and find a tenant to pay rent.
As a homeless doctor, I knew we’d need a place to live when we were ready to settle down in one place. After all, we were expecting our first child in the latter stages of my full-time-locums years.
If you’re not sure you’re going to stay in one place for at least five to seven years, you’re probably better off renting. I know that now, but I didn’t back then, and the break-even timeframe I recall hearing was three years.
After having the rug pulled out from under our feet, we landed a bit awkwardly. I did some traveling locums work, but we now had a second baby, and it was no fun for anyone, including me, to have me working away from home.