Being that most students have their parents cosign, investors are able to fix whatever broke during the kegger the kids threw and they're always able to collect rent. 

Hey Chris, my parents live up in the NOVA area and there property values are insane!

A couple years ago, my parents were trying to sell their primary residence in Rockland County, NY and were having difficulty all summer long.  

My long time friends parents owned a house here in the historic district since the 70's.

This is mainly lineal descendants such as parents, grandparent, children, grandchildren etc....

Parent own a floor covering store.

My source of funds are taking withdrawals of ROTH contributions (last choice) or using part of a large monetary gift that my parents are going to be gifting to me as part of their estate planning.

Unless they are your own parents.  

There are a significant amount of risk involved in the whole process along with holding costs.

I had just graduated, was living with my parents, and driving over an hour to work each day so I decided I would move closer to my job.