What do you think about a three-plex

[Ryan Clayton]

Hello Biggerpockets, let me start by apologizing if this is in the wrong category.

I'm a 19 year old community college student with one year left before I get my associates degree. For a long time I've been interested in investing in real estate. Next year i plan on going to a four year school to finish my degree and I don't know if I will stay local, or go out of state which is the main reason I'm holding off on buying this property (or at least that's what I tell myself).

Now the property. It is a three-plex located in a small city (population about 8,000), half an hour to forty minutes from the nearest major city. There is a large employer directly across the street that likely won't be going anywhere anytime soon. The asking price is $225,000 (if it matters the "zestimate" is $209,000) and if I do move forward I will of course have my own assessment done. The entire building was just renovated and based on the photos it looks pretty nice. There is one bathroom per unit, two 2 bedroom units and one 3 bedroom unit.

My plan would be to try to get an FHA loan, pay the 3.5% down, and then pay the mortgage at (I'm estimating) around $1,200 per month. I would be living in one of the two bedroom units likely with a roommate who I would charge $500-$600 a month for rent. Then I would rent out the other to units for around $1,200 per month. This would put my total mortgage payments per year around $15,000, and my property income at around $35,000 for a net income of around $20,000. However on apartments.com the only properties listed for rent are one to two bedrooms renting from $800-$950, however all the reviews left by tenants are terrible, only one review was positive of about a dozen total. Based on city-data.com the average gross rent in 2015 was $784. This makes me think I may be up in the clouds based on my thoughts of what I can charge for rent. In addition to that the property has a lot of parking space and the seller of the property mentioned possibly renting out spaces to the workers across the street, something I might consider.

So my concerns are what I'm going to do if I wind up leaving home to go to college after I graduate from community college, and are expectations too high? Way too high?

Thank you in advance.