Fiance speaking:

I dont care about direct oceanfront. I would much rather buy than rent, seeing I am a accounting/business major, it makes no sense to rent, even if we are only there 6-12 months.

We have not physically gone and checked out the area and probably wont for a little while, but the main thing I worry about is definitally my car! If we do rent, I want it to either have a garage or security gate to enter. Obviously that is going to be expensive, so hopefully we can find a nice condo with safe parking.