I'm about to purchase my first home period, the plan is to live in it for a year then start renting it out (I got USDA Financing, hence the occupancy thing). The question I have right now is, what should I do with the landscaping? 

The current residents had a big herb garden in the back and it has a fairly smoth down hill incline as well. The front lawn is covered in weeds and looks like it was never treated with seed or fertilizer. The front flower beds have some standard bushes in them, or at least they would be standard if they did not have those wire Christmas reindeer planted in the middle of them (bush and ornament are now one). Other than that it is in a state of disrepair. What should I do with this and how should I handle it's future upkeep?

I don't know how big it is, what your budget is or how much of a green thumb you have.  But while you are living there, do what you care about.  After that, you should at least mow the whole thing down.  You want your tenants to take pride in your house and that will be the FIRST thing they see.

I've had the same thought. I have two SFR that I would love to landscape and present nicely, but both are tenant occupied and I'd rather cut my maintenance costs. Looking forward to the discussion.

redo beds with Low maintenance plants, start weed control, reseed if needed. what kind of grass is in the area? is it shaded or sunny?  I grow grass for a living. clean up the place. neat and simple.  chemical applications are really cheap maintenance if applied correctly.

Renters wont take care of your place like you do. I tell them if they don't mow and clean the place up. I know a guy that does. his number is - - -- - - . if I have to call him the price doubles. 

I have 2.2 acres, beds are slowly growing in size. a few boxwoods , Liriope  some azaleas,

A few knock out roses for color and I get a lot of complements.

steel edging and a couple of pallets of cypress mulch.  a few planters for annuals and I use a professional weed cloth.  bermuda grass works here. easy to grow. easy to maintain.  

I would say the area is fairly shady (referring to the amount of sunlight,  not the quality of people that live there). I could grow grass, my only apprehension is the upkeep, mainly water. grass needs water to grow, while personally I like a nice clean lawn, I don't think I could count on tenants to keep it watered. I'm no stranger to doing yard work myself, I used to own and operate a small yard helper business in college. 

My budget is not huge but I can do a lot with a little considering my skills. 

My biggest concern is that garden thing in the back yard. Back yard is not big and is cramped by this garden. It is also tiered going down hill. Do you think it worth the dogging to flatten out out?