Posting on a burner because my friends know my main account.

I finished my fifth year of medical residency in Alberta right before Christmas and have been extremely lucky to receive an offer for general surgery in Manitoba with a salary of 710k.

Although incredibly grateful, I'm stumped as to how to proceed with my finances because my salary as a PGY-5 is 74k. I have ~40k in my TFSA with total medical school debt of 231k.

I want to purchase a home in Manitoba. The townhouses I'm looking at cost 180-220k. Is it stupid for me to buy a house before paying down my debt? With my salary, I feel like I could purchase a home and pay my debt within a year (single with no kids) – or I might be delusional.

Apologies for any ignorance, I'm fairly new to this sub but figured it would be a good place to begin. Thanks in advance!

This post is absolutely not meant to brag, I simply need advice because I don't have a financial advisor or friends who I can share this with.

Edit: grammar

Update: wow, this received a lot more traction than I'd expected. Thank you for all your advice – truly. Sorry if you provided genuine advice and I didn't get a chance to reply to your comment.

To answer a couple of common questions:

1. The pay is on the higher end because I'm in a very rural part of northern Manitoba where there is a huge shortage of physicians
2. I'm coming to reddit for advice because I quite literally have never had wealth like this before. I didn't even break 70k until my 5th year of residency. 70k is a lot but my parents both work factory jobs making <$20/hr and they need my support. I simply haven't had enough left over to consider serious financial planning. I would have never thought to be in this position.
3. I want to first purchase a townhouse rather than a bigger home because I plan on keeping the townhouse as an investment property once I'm able to move into something bigger.

Here's what I've learned from comments:

1. I'll rent for at least a year before I purchase a property so I can find an area I like and see if rural Manitoba is for me
2. I'll hire a fee-based financial planner with good references
3. I'll look into options for incorporation to minimize my tax expense
4. I'll join the Financial Independencd for Physicians Facebook group
5. I'll look into disability insurance
6. I'll keep living like I make 70k at least until my debt is paid off