House Hacking as a College Student

[Daniel Kaplan]

Hey BP fam! Thought I'd reach out in the forums for some guidance before I do an internet deep dive on this. My friend and I have a combined $40,000 and are looking to house hack a quadplex for 2 years before we graduate. However, as college students, we are not W-2 employees. What methods/loan programs do ya'll recommend so that we can qualify to purchase. I am fairly knowledgable on DSCR loans, but I don't know if that will be enough projected income to qualify. Please let me know your thoughts and ideas!!!!!!!!!! I really appreciate all of you so much!

[Miller McSwain]

I just graduated, and I was able to close a month before graduation by showing my lender my offer letter. If you aren't close to graduation, you may have some options although I haven't proven them:
1. Have someone with sufficient income co-sign (parent, etc). If someone else is on the mortgage that has qualifiable income, I imagine the lender would be willing to accept that. Perhaps you can incentivize a parent by offering a percentage of cash flow, equity, etc.
2. Like you mentioned, DSCR could be a good route since they don't scrutinize over your personal finances as much as conventional. I think DSCR requires 20%+ downpayment typically though. Conventional/FHA would allow 5% or less. So perhaps look into that though.