Is now a good time?

[Brett Vandervort]

Real estate investing has been my dream for years, and I'm eager to start! I thought it would be an good idea to get my feet wet by buying a house and renting out the extra rooms to roommates. But is now the right time? First of all, I'd be getting my down payment as a loan from my parents and the max they'll lend me is $20k for 5 years at 4% ($370 per month), so the most house I can guy is for $100k, but even then the debt burden would be pretty high ($80k for 30 years at 4.75 is $420 a month, for a combined monthly payment of approx. $800), so I probably wouldn't be able to break even when expenses are factored in. If I got roommates (which isn't a sure thing) that would bring the cost of living down considerably, but there is still the second issue: according to several realtors, it's a "seller's" market right now, so it's almost impossible to get a house at a discount (my target is 20%). So I'll have to either buy at market, or at a premium, or a serious fixer upper (I don't have the skills to do it myself, nor the money to pay someone else). So between the debt burden and the demand exceeding the supply, is now a good time to jump into my first property? Or would it be better just to rent an apartment, save money for a down payment, and wait until the market become more favorable to buyers?