Should I invest while in school or wait?

[Lanre Akande]

Hello, everyone, I am currently a graduate student in the St. Louis area and am looking to start my real estate investment journey. My current income is sufficient enough to cover my living expenses, live comfortably, and put a portion toward savings each month. The rent for my current apartment, though, is roughly similar to single family homes in the area. So, I was wondering if it would be smarter to use the time I have on this current rental lease to start looking for a small multifamily property to buy and house hack (with an FHA loan).

However, when my program ends in roughly 4 to 5 years, I plan on moving back in with my parents (in the Dallas-Fort Worth area) and saving to buy my own place. Should I spend these next few years connecting with investors in the St. Louis area and gaining experience from them before beginning my own real estate portfolio when I move back home or should I start by house hacking while I am still living in MO? Also, if I were to start while in school, are there any preferred areas in St. Louis and the surrounding cities that I should start looking into? I have done general searches for the surrounding cities before, but I am relatively new to the area (as opposed to me having lived in the DFW area for over 2 decades and having particular areas I plan on investing in).  

[Theresa Harris]

Why not buy a place (assuming you can get a mortgage) and rent rooms out?  5 years is a long time and once you are finished with your grad school and have a job, you can buy another place.  If you rent by the room, you should be able to save money for the next place or sell it.  

My first place was a condo while in grad school for the reasons you mentioned. I rented out the second room.  However, I would urge to you be careful about where you buy as not all condos are well run.  The one I got was okay at first, but as time went on we had more and more special assessments for repairs.  I sold it about 20 years after I bought it and just before they had a massive assessment (think tens of millions of dollars).  I was so happy I sold it when I did.