This is more or less what I did. While my now husband and I were dating, I went ahead and bought the townhouse; he really wasn't involved much at all. I bought it, he moved in, we got engaged, and now married. To me paying the mortgage is just like any other bill with my name on it, neither of us really care that only one of us is on the mortgage. (We split all expenses and monthly savings goals by income, I think I saw in a previous comment you do something similar).

I found the whole process a lot easier than I was expecting. I've owned my place for almost 4 years, and have barely had to do anything aside from buying a new washer. I went the condo/townhouse route and a lot of things are taken care of, which has been great for us because we've spent the last few years focusing on grad school, career stuff, starting a family, etc.