Most young adults your age have no clue what path in life they want to take but you seem to have a focus and drive most do not. $5k to invest in real estate is not the move I'd make at this moment.

As an adult over the age of consent you are able to sign a contract--in this case a rental agreement.

It will take months of savings to acquire significant furnds for a down payment, 20K on a 100k purchase on an after tax basis from savings will take at east 133 months or 11 years gaining 200 bucks gross a month.After seeing thousands of people over thier personal and business finance issues, I could count such savers on one hand, if most people get 150 bucks after tax monthly, the kids will usually get a new toy, if they don't the adults will or it mostly turns into disposable income in reality.Over that 11 years very little has gone to principal reduction, but there may be closing costs for a new loan. the equity should hit 15 to 20% even in slower markets if you buy decent properties.

I've dropped my app fee to $25 per adult now and still most of the people seem to balk at that.

I decided that I would continue to pay the water bills, but kept asking for money.I was finally able to get one of the adults to sign the lease (there are 5 adults living in the house, gram, mom, son, 2x daughters).

I used to work in a few group homes for developmentally disabled adults, and there were as many as six in one home.  

All adults currently residing at the property should be named on the lease as jointly and severally liable.

At the time I thought it was an overbearing, obnoxious slogan but looking back I see he was only trying to hold us accountable for our actions, to take responsibility and to not become adults who make excuses to justify weak ideals. 

Every adult should pass your screening and sign the lease.

Disneyland is packed with season pass holders, and some parents were even using it for after school care because they knew their kids would be relatively safe with all of the security and adults.