Buy, Live in, fix up and sell

[Ashton Astillero]

I'm a single guy working as a contractor. I'm self employed but I just started my business this year. Prior to that, my w2 income for 2012 and 2013 doesn't really support much since I got a job paying $10/hr with only maybe 30hrs per week. But I have some credit history thanks to a couple of credit cards. I live well beneath my means as you can imagine trying to survive on that little money. But I'm actually doing ok. 

Now, I have this idea of buying a thrashed place. Live in it. And work on it on my spare time. And maybe sell that or start out a rental port folio from that. My problem lies in one thing - buying the property. 

I'm sure someone has done this before. I was hoping someone out there can see this and maybe point me to the direction I should take.