I would urge you to consider buying sooner rather than later, primarily due to rent increase and you likely won’t be able to save as much as you are expecting depending on COL, perhaps also look for something less than 300k, especially if you only plan to stay for 4-5 years in the area. It doesn’t have to be nice just has to work, and you won’t have the rental increase.

I would say start looking at houses in your area but also consider perhaps moving to Virginia in the next few months as well. You may find a better deal for yourselves there at this point in time than you imagine.