Should I buy a better property further away or a worse property close to the city?

Q.

I am a single 28 year old earning $46k and I want to buy a property. Being single, I know I won't be able to afford the repayments. I have a deposit of about $20,000 and the property I want is about $260,000-$280,000. Should I buy a property like this and struggle with repayments, possibly having to put tenants in the other rooms to help make repayments, or am I better off buying a small country property for $130,000 that I can rent out and pay off faster, while I continue to rent in the city? I hate that fact that being single could disadvantage me for my future.

There is nothing worse than spending all your life worrying about the mortgage payments. If your main goal is to create some capital, you should investigate buying shares and not property. The benefit of shares is that you can buy and sell in small amounts and so can tailor your investment portfolio to your income. As your experience and your capital grow, you could buy more shares or take your profits and use them to buy a house.