In 2007, my wife was in the mortgage business. 

Having said that, we also have many clients we use our systems and processes for crypto funds, buying existing businesses, funding startups, hedge funds, venture capital, and even non-profits.  

This is not “student housing” in the traditional sense - even the vacancy risk doesn’t exist as it’s a 12 month lease / they work over the summer there, etc.  

I literally laughed through the phone at his suggestion, because I was broke, in debt, and in every way and unqualified borrower, and the lending environment in 2012 was probably stricter than it had been since the invention of the 30yr mortgage.

Everyone will tell you it’s great to get started early, or you can just move after a year, but in the current environment in our region the rent your property will generate after you move out will likely be less than your mortgage, if you are tied to the area and feel confident you want to stay in whatever property you buy for 3-5 years go for it, if you want flexibility rent and throw that money into and index fund. 

For full protection, your mortgage company will likely still require you to carry a landlord or dwelling policy.

Meet with a local banker & schedule a time to talk with a mortgage broker, they'll give you at least a baseline of what kind of down payment options and rates are out there.After that, if you're still wanting to research more creative options, do some looking into seller financing (a very hot topic with good, and bad, advice out there), look into private lenders, and commercial financing options.If you're wanting to live in 1/4 of your quadplex, then conventional residential loans may in fact be your best option as you can purchase that with a fannie/freddy loan with very low down, and use up to 75% of the income from the property toward your own income. 

I do have experience working in Mortgage Processing and more recently Commercial Underwriting, so if anyone has questions in those areas I would be happy to help any way I can!

This will still qualify for a residential mortgage and you have a better shot of completely offsetting your entire payment.

In 2023 I bought one house, invested in one syndication, and focused on fixing up existing properties.