Buying property if I plan on moving

[Logan Hartley]

Hello all, I could use a little bit of advice here:

Is it advisable to buy a property in a city (Lincoln, NE) where you don't intend on staying long term? Currently, my plan is to move elsewhere within a couple years, which makes me question the decision to buy a house at this time. Permitting that I rent it out, I feel like I wouldn't be making much cash flow on the property, accounting for putting away CapEx and vacancy savings and especially if I have a management company look after it once I move. At that point, I feel like I could potentially LOSE money on a monthly basis. Of course there's the whole facet of appreciation and building equity, but there again most houses in the market are older and unlikely to appreciate over a considerable amount of time. Currently the city is an absolute seller's market -- most decently priced homes are selling within 24 hours of being listed, to where it's hard for me to be competitive without going excessively over (I'd be putting only 3% down). Having already viewed multiple homes and putting offers on them only to get outbid, I can vouch for this. Then there's the fact that interest rates are at an all-time low, which is liable to introduce only more people into the buying market. I went into the process a week ago confident, however, it seems that the money I've saved up to this point for the property could be invested better elsewhere at this time, at least until I've settled down somewhere more permanent.

At the same time, I feel bad reneging on my real estate agent, but would prefer to do it sooner rather than when they've spent a considerable amount of time helping me. What are ya'lls thoughts on what I should do?