What should I do with $20,000?

Wow, that's a hard one. Some questions for you:

1. Do you see yourself moving in the next five years? In that case, I would NOT buy the condo.

2. Do you have savings for retirement? If not, I would put away at least $5,500 in a Roth IRA. You can always take the $5,500 back out to buy a place later (and leave the interest), but might as well have it grow tax-free for now.

3. How do you feel about having a roommate? Is it nice to have someone to talk to at the end of the day? Or do you wish you had more alone time?

You might look into getting a two-bedroom condo and renting the other bedroom to a roommate as a way of making money.

You should at least talk to a mortgage broker and see what you would qualify for. You can also google "mortgage calculator" and see what's online.

Owning your a place of your own will generally pay off in the long run as apartment rent goes up and your mortgage payments stay the same. There are more primary residence tax benefits than some investment property you rent out, though some overstate the investment value of your house, since you have to get some replacement should you sell it.

Prime rats are expected to be raised by the FED soon, so you might get the cheapest mortgages for a while right now.

I would go for a longer lower payment mortgage that allows double, principle only payments when I an rolling in money, but can go back to the min payment when less employed.

Can you afford the monthly payments on the condo? Would you save money on gas? Do you and your roommate share expenses other than rent? Of course you could have a roommate with the condo, but you'd own it and they would pay rent to you.

I am already preapproved and 20k is enough down for a condo.

$20k is not enough for a down payment in SoCal.

You should give it to people who are in need.. like me . :(