RD,
I think that is very wise of you to invest your salary! Chris gave you a great answer, I never heard about those residency requirements before!Please let us know what part of Manhattan your program will be in, so we can help you better..You should be able to get a nice one bedroom, depending on where it's located and the amenities you require. A buyer's agent will be able to guide you and show you the widest range of apartments available, at no added cost or cost to you..Please let me know if I can assist you in finding your home.

R.D.
The first thing you MUST determine is the distance from the hospital that you are allowed to live. Typically, hospital policy is no more than 20 minutes. In NYC, that usually means a 20 minute WALK is the maximum distance. In the case of emergency, you can't assume that you can get a cab or that mass transit will be available for you to respond.
After you find out what the hospital policy is, then select a local Realtor that you are comfortable with to find you that right property.
CoBorrowers are nice to have on a mortgage loan. The latest guidelines say that you must qualify with an expanded ratio. You'll need a large downpayment for a conventional loan.
Good luck.

Congrats on your upcoming med school graduation! Residency is going to be brutal (as i've seen from my friends & cousins). With regards to apartments, start talking to a mortgage broker who's experienced with manhattan ASAP, this way you know realistically what you can afford & you start the ball rolling on the approval process with the banks. The mortgage process is taking longer than it did in the past because the banks have tightened up their lending & require more paperwork, etc. In the $500-$600K range look at alcove studios & 1 bedroom condos. Don't even consider co-ops b/c you'll have a tough time. You can't go by asking prices alone b/c the last couple of weeks developers & sellers were willing to negotiate far below their asking prices. There's some new buildings in midtown east that were doing deals at $580K on 1 bedrooms with balconies on high floors. Over 70% of the deals that were done in the past month were for apts under $1M so prices for starter apts are beginning to stabilize. (There are still unrealistic sellers out there with their heads in the clouds but no one is buying those apts). Feel free to contact me directly to discuss this further.
sophia.anzaroot@elliman.com

Hi RD! I would love to help. This is my specialty! I am a first time buyer specialist and your price range and criteria are what I do! Please email or call me today to talk, I am available - 212-775-6104. Please check out my bio and testimonials on Trulia.com and check out my website on markdavidny.com (link below). Thanks, Stephanie L Davis.

You could get something very nice in the $500k to $600k range. You should definitely look into getting pre-approved first so you can get an idea of how much the banks will be willing to lend you, but that process is fairly painless. In the short term prices will stabilize at some point, and over five years you should be able to gain some nice equity. I would be happy to help you with your search.

Richard Daub
Pridential Douglas Elliman Real Estate
richard.daub@elliman.com
917-657-6532