New Rental Property Question

[Yusuf Qureshi]

I am new to rental properties, and real estate investing. I was listening to the BiggerPockets Podcast, and I heard something interesting by Brandon Turner. He mentioned purchasing a rental property for his child to pay for their college.

I was wondering if I should purchase a home, put 20% down in safe yet high price area, and rent the home in hopes of selling it in 15-20 years to pay for future large expenses. The tenant would be technically paying for the mortgage and other expenses. Cash flow would not be main focus, however, it must be positive cash flow. When the home is paid off, it is like I paid only 20% of the home. The tenant paid 80% of the home. 

I ran the numbers, and I should come out ahead versus the market if I were to use that money to invest in the stock market. 

Has anyone tried this? Thoughts on this strategy? 

Again, the purpose of the property is not to have great returns so I can retire, rather the purpose for the investment is to use the cash for future large expenses.