There are plenty of incentive based options for buyer's that fall into certain demographics. The biggest thing a lender will evaluate is your ability to pay a mortgage. The number one thing you will hear about are your front end and back end ratios. These are fractions of your income that go to debts, and are most often times called debt to income ratios (DTI.) Lenders like to see a front end ratio (only debts for housing) come in at or below 28% of your total income. The back end ratio includes all debts (student loans, cars, credit card debts) and comes in around 36% of your total income. Some lenders will go higher, but being that you have a part time job in retail they may make the requirements for you to qualify slightly more stringent.
I would agree with Brian, you may want to consider a full time job. Don't feel obligated to answer, but how is it that you can survive in today's world without a full time job? If you have a disability and receive income from that then you may qualify for a specific loan product. If you are living with family because you are afraid of committing to the full time job then it's probably not going to help your case with lenders. At the end of the day the only thing you can do is talk to a lender. The absolute lowest down payment you are going to get these days is a 3.5% FHA. That's unless you secure private money. Realistically you don't have those connections, so look into owner occupied loans. You could start with buying a small duplex and seeing if you like what goes into owning property and/or managing property. Remember that with a 3.5% downpayment though you will be paying a higher interest rate/higher PMI on a larger loan to offset the risk the lender is taking to finance the house. If you default they have a non-performing asset on their book that has an unfavorable equity position. Remember that a mortgage requires PITI, most mortgage calculators online only calculate PI. The TI can double the cost of the mortgage in some markets. Also, you'll have to plan for repair, maintenance, and vacancy. You might end up doing a lot of work just to build the equity from the P cost on the mortgage each month. Also, think about closing costs. You can often times get a seller to cover them, but you will still have some expenses to pay. The other alternative is to buy in cash. Your ROI is extremely low in this approach, making the risk of real estate investing unadvised. Start saving cause it will take a lot to make real estate worth your time!
Since you lack experience in this field, it may be difficult to qualify partner money that comes from those sources. Again echoing Brian, that's an extremely risky move that I would not recommend. Things will go wrong, and you don't want someone's retirement or general well-being to be impacted.
A) Speak to a lender. Know your DTI, know what you're looking for, know what you can afford now, know your credit scores. ... You have a lot of research to do yet.
B) Evaluate why you are interested in real estate. Fear of commitment would lead me to advise alternative investments. If you get past a couple properties it will become a full time job, on the side of whatever you do for active income. If you looking for a quick buck you probably won't find it in real estate. There are too many mistakes for the novice to make. I myself own only one duplex and I'm still finding mistakes monthly that I can make. Luckily none that have screwed me up yet.
C) Either way, good luck and welcome!
