How much to save starting out?

[Bradley Gaulden]

Good Afternoon y'all!

I recently moved to Dallas after graduating from Texas A&M University with my masters in Real Estate. I am currently working for a real estate lending company in Las Colinas. Working in the industry I see on a daily basis how awful rent is, and how badly I want to buy something to build equity. I decided to live at home after graduating this past December to pay off all "frivolous" debt, Ie credit cards and such from college. I should be done with that around December of this year.

My main question I pose is this: I will have roughly 15k to put down on a property by next March or April. I was thinking of trying to buy a condo under 75k. I was looking into FHA financing the property, living in it for a year or so to build equity and fix it up and either rent it out or sell it. As it stands now my biggest hurtle would be my 540 credit score, that no doubt will go out after paying off all credit card debt and such. If i had that 15k to invest, but it would completely break my bank, should I wait and rent for a year or so to build up a cash reserve? or bit the bullet, buy and then fix as I can using the funds from my paycheck and the savings I would have due to a lower mortgage payment then rental costs.

Ultimately I would love to find an investor mentor in the Dallas/Fort Worth area who would be willing to help me navigate my first purchase, or give me some sort of guidance in what direction I should take.

Thanks everyone!

( I posted this on another thread but moved it here because I felt the content was more appropriate under the starting out tab.)