College Student New to Real Estate

[Orlando Rodrigues]

I'm currently a senior in college in Massachusetts and ever since my school went online, I have pretty much been working nonstop and saving/investing as much as I can. My friends and I have recently been learning a lot about real estate investing and money in general during this time and I am very excited to make the jump into my first big investment. 

I know there are ways to get low down payments, like through an FHA loan or private loans, however with a college student's/recent graduate's salary, what do you suggest would be the best option in terms of a down payment? My goal is to first get a multifamily home and rent out a unit (or 2) while I live in the other; I figure it wouldn't be a good idea to put a majority/all of my money into the downpayment (which is what it might take with MA home prices) so I was curious to what anyone else would advise.

I am not in a rush to make this first investment, but I do want to start my real estate investing early if possible. What percentage of my overall worth should I put into this first downpayment? How much should I have saved for emergency purposes or factor in for renovation costs? I would really appreciate any sort of guidance anybody has to offer or would love to learn how someone handled their first investment. Thank you!