Soon-to-be physician, wanting to house hack to start!

[Charles Haverty]

Hello all,

My name is Charles Haverty. I am starting my fourth year in medical school this summer, and will be applying to residency programs this fall, interviewing through the winter, and will find out where my girlfriend and I will be starting our lives as doctors in the early spring. We currently live in Colorado Springs, but we will be relocating in May 2019 to start residency in late June/early July 2019. 

I have always been interested in investing in real estate and am excited to finally be able to start next year. I found bigger pockets and have been listening to the podcasts in my spare time. My plan is to find an affordable duplex near the program we will begin our training. 

My situation may be somewhat unique compared to most other new members here, and any advice would be greatly appreciated! We don't know (and can't control) where we will match into residency, so I have zero idea if my plan is even feasible given variable housing markets (we would like to keep the cost of the duplex under 250k, which would be easier in the Midwest compared to Denver, for example). Both my girlfriend and I have significant debt from school and haven't held a job in years, but will both be eligible for "physician loans," which offer competitive rates with 0% down and usually don't require anything more than proof of contract with a residency program. The ideal plan would be to find a duplex, close on it, fix it up if needed, and move into it all in the timeframe of March to May/June, and all from (likely) across the country. 

I'm not sure if this is even possible, or if it would be a better idea to rent an apartment for the first year to get settled into the area and spend time looking for deals during that first year. However, I feel like the sooner I start, the better, as some of the savings from house hacking (other than creating a rainy day fund for house repairs, of course) can be used to chip away at our student loan burden. 

Any input or advice would be appreciated, especially if anyone on here has taken a physician loan or bought a duplex to house hack from across the country! I am going to continue to read real estate and investing books, read forums on Bigger Pockets, and listen to the podcasts for the rest of this year into 2019 to arm myself with knowledge to make the process easier come time to take action. 

Thanks for reading and have an awesome rest of your day.