I could answer this strictly according to money, but there are a lot of issues involved – to me, the ultimate question is what you’re comfortable with on a personal level.      

So I’ll tackle those ‘intangible’ issues first, then do an economic breakdown for you.

Let’s talk through your options:

A: Move into an apartment while you wait for a deal on a house.

You most likely will have to sign a lease, so let’s assume you commit to being there for a year.

Although some people feel any money spent on rent is a waste, the real estate and mortgage market is in a great deal of flux and you’ll have a better idea of what’s a ‘fair’ deal in a year or so.

You’ll also have a better idea of what kind of help the government is going to give you. Right now there is debate about a $15,000 tax credit for people who buy a new home -- that’s a nice haircut off the price, and you get it whether you have taxable income or not. There might other such goodies in a year or two to get people to buy a home.

Will you miss out on price appreciation by sitting out a year? I don’t know where you’re moving, but real estate prices don’t seem poised to take off any time soon, so I doubt you’ll miss much any appreciation.

Also, if you rent a year, you won’t feel rushed buying a new place. You can get to know the area better, and really look at all your options. If you put your stuff in storage assuming you’ll buy pretty quickly, you might feel an itch to buy a place and get done with it. You could lose out in the end by making a rash decision.

The downside is that you’re moving twice. You’ll get settled in at your new place, and all of a sudden you’ll be looking to move to a new place. Even for people who move a lot (especially if you have a lot of stuff and you have kids), this is a tough turnaround. You might spend a year living out of a box. For some people, this is adventurous – for others, it’s torture.

B: Put your stuff in short-term storage while you hunt for a house.

The advantage to this option is primarily financial: you'll save money on moving and rental costs. (You didn’t say where you’d be living while you look for a new home – I assume you’re crashing with friends or relatives or some other cheap, non-rent-paying option.)

The bigger question is whether you’re comfortable with living with just a few of your items while the bulk of your stuff is in storage?

Also, as I mentioned above, if you’re assuming you’re going to find a new home quickly, you might rush to buy a new home and make a bad decision. If you rent for a year, you have time to think things through.

The financial breakdown:

Option A: You pay rent for a year. You move twice (although your second move will be cheaper because it’s a local move, I assume the first one is long distance moving).

Option B: You purchase storage for a short period of time, while you hunt for a home. Talk to the moving company who moves you about them putting stuff in storage for you – it's easier and you might get a better deal on storage from them, rather than a self-storage facility (although you probably won’t be able to get your items EXACTLY when you need them – it will depend on the moving company’s timetable for when they have moving crews and such to pull your items from storage). Also check out PODs.

So option A is more expensive, but there's a lot more to this question than just dollars and cents.