Buying my first property while in college

[Cameron Taylor]

Hello BiggerPockets,

My name is Cameron Taylor, and I am a freshman at the University of Colorado Boulder. I am new to Real Estate investing, but I know this is a field I am highly interested in after college. To give you some background on my situation, Most if not all students after freshman year move off-campus and rent. Average rental prices are around $1000 a month. Since I expect to move on campus for the next three years, I don't want to pay around $36,000, but rather buy a property as I think the benefits outweigh renting. 

I am currently employed as a ticket broker, so I have consistent income to pay a monthly mortgage payment as well as the down payment. My short term goal is to buy a property, and live there for three years, and after that time period rent it out. I want to make sure whatever property I purchase, will have a steady flow of income that exceeds my mortgage payment once I plan to rent.

But, I feel that there are going to be some hoops to jump through considering I am 18 years old without any credit score. I can imagine it will be tough to get pre approved from a bank. I have consistent income for the past 2.5 years, money saved, as well assets such as an investment account which I hope can look convincing to a bank. I also applied for a credit card to build up my credit score in the meantime. 

I joined the real estate club at school and plan to set up a meeting with the head of the real estate department in hopes to establish connections that way. I also plan to contact local brokers who can help me with this process. 

If anyone in the BiggerPockets community has any connections in the Boulder, CO area, I would really appreciate if you could point me in the right direction. Also, if anyone has any type of advice they could provide I would also appreciate that. I am at the early stages of this process so I will keep an open mind to any suggestions. 

Thanks 

[Karl B.]

Hi. This is a great idea (as long as the numbers work). In the past I've told my siblings they should use this same strategy (for their college-attending kids) but it hasn't yet been done. 

In the event you're having trouble securing a loan you could have a parent or family member co-sign the loan for you (if they have both good income and credit). If this is an option the loan can be secured on your behalf whether it's a FHA or traditional loan.