Buying a Condo to get started?

[Tanner Westerheid]

I am currently 24 living in Denver. All of my family and friends live here and I have an amazing job I do not wish to leave. I have been following BP for over a year now and really want to get started. Here is my current situation. Making $70k/yr Get free company stock every year (have racked up $18k in stock in 2 years, $0 out of pocket. Goes to a 401k if I leave the company) Potential for a bonus every year (last year was $6500, this year will likely be a bit less) 0 Debt Own a $10,000 Truck outright Have about $7k saved up Saving anywhere from $1,000-$1,400/mo My share of rent is $1000/mo (have 3 roommates) Excellent credit score Here is my dilemma. Any house in Denver is insanely overpriced right now. They don't even come close to meeting the 1% rule. I have analyzed tons of houses in Denver over the course of a several months. I have found that typically a $350,000 house will rent for about $1800-$2200. $350,000 gets you a halfway decent house in a subpar area of town. I am currently renting a house worth $750,000 with friends and rent is only $4,000! Even when running the numbers on a home where I could boost the value with a renovation, it still seems to cashflow negative, or at the very best break even. I am also not a huge fan of going into $300,000+ in debt when I am only making $70k/yr and am single. Would it be wise to buy a 2 bedroom condo for less than $200,000, rent out the other room and have my roommate pay a significant portion of my mortgage? I have ran the numbers on this and would only end up paying a few hundred dollars out of pocket every month. The benefit is, if I have a vacancy or struggle finding a roommate, the monthly payments would be less than $1,500/mo - something I could easily stomach on my own if I had to for a while. Where as a house payment would be far north of $2,000/mo. Something I would struggle pay monthly if I went for a period with no roommates. This is obviously not an ideal investment, but given my stage in life I feel like it may be a better alternative to renting. In a few years the condo would have (ideally) appreciated due to the Denver market, I would have built up some equity, and my salary would have increased. Then I could pursue a BRRR or House Hack deal in my late twenties when I have more money at my disposal. I have also toyed with the idea of continuing to rent in Denver and try to invest in something out of state. I have asked this question before and the response is usually to house hack with a duplex. Right now, almost any duplex in Denver is going for $500,000+. Even if I were to have some friends go in on it with me, that is still a huge risk to take considering we all have relatively small salaries and small emergency funds. My goal is to either retire in my 40s, or supplement my income so I can take a less stressful and lower paying job. Any advice is appreciated.