What other drawbacks, besides loosing cash, are there to buying a house and selling it a year later?

OK! What ever people tell you, 700K on a $130K salary is actually a good option. Excluding the interest, on a 30 year loan, you are repaying about 26k annually. /u/evaned said that it is unlikely affordable, but i am here to tell you different. If you have some money for a down payment, then go for it... Almost everybody in their 50's and above who is earning that much money or more will tell you that they wish that they had extended themselves further when they were younger. You haven't told us your age, but I am guessing since you are in Software Engineering that you aren't that old.

To answer your question however, the drawbacks are loosing cash and time. A lot of both. There are often heavy fees associated with selling a house. (Check out this link: http://www.realtor.com/advice/sell/how-much-money-will-you-walk-away-with-from-your-home-sale/). The first line tells you:

As the seller of your home, you are bound to face a parade of taxes, commissions and other fees that could cost 4% to 7% of your sale price.

Taxes etc. are incredibly damaging to sellers... You may loose quite a bit of money if you decide to buy a property such as that and then sell it only a year after. The other downside is time. Moving is an incredibly long process. If you are renting, you have to get your bond back (can take a while), pay for movers, pack all of your stuff up into boxes (incredibly time consuming), put them in the truck, drive, unload them, bring the boxes in, and then unpack them, and place the stuff where you want it... Signing agreements. Going to the bank and organizing a loan. Hours on the phone, and contacting agents. You will have to get a new internet plan, as well as much more, which can be a huge hassle. All of this takes time - and quite a lot of it too. This can detract a lot from your work. In other words, buying a home IS NOT FUN! Now, remember if you decide to sell in a year, whoooop, you have to do this again. It can be incredibly stressful.

Another thing you will have to risk is your credit score. You sound as though your job security is good, however if your job falls through, you may not be able to afford your repayments. Obviously you would need an emergency fund (GET ONE IF YOU HAVEN'T GOT ONE ALREADY), but it would likely be a struggle.

TL;DR: You lose a lot of money buying and selling properties. Taxes and commission can take anywhere from 7% of the properties value away. This is why people don't buy properties so they don't have to pay rent, and then sell them when they are done. There is also the hassle of moving, setting up your home, getting loans etc. which takes a lot of time. If you are sure you want to stay in the area, go for it. Otherwise, I would suggest that you keep doing what you are at the moment.

/r/personalfinance Thread