The rent by the room approach is a good option if you are ok with roommates.

Even if you have to get roommates I would go that route.  

During the first year you can still make money by getting roommates. 

I've been lurking on BP for the past several...years #2015 and have been encouraged by recent podcasts to jump on and ask a few questions.A little background, I purchased my first single family (4 bedroom, 4 bath) townhouse in early 2016 in Virginia as my primary residence with the intent to have roommates.

I know roommates sounded way different before kids for me.  

Alex Winder If you get a multi family (or anything), and don't mind roommates, one way to accelerate your savings is to rent out individual rooms in your unit.

Interestingly, the house is on a double lot and I will be able to subdivide the lot at some point, but more on that later.Initially, I had a roommate renting the upstairs bedroom for a year for 650/mo plus half utilities.

I was actually introduced to this site by my roommate who just bought a rental property in the area.

Ever since I graduated from the University of Texas (Hook'em Horns) and started making money in the real world I've been interested in getting into real estate investing and more specifically rentals.I'm currently living in a house that I rent with roommates, so my living situation is flexible.

Roommates are great.