I am a student in university, fairly new to REI and busy learning about my local market where I plan to invest.I am in the process of saving for loan down payment since I aim to first acquire a rental or more ideally do a house-hack when I am able to qualify for a loan (I have not researched private lending yet - any tips would be welcomed for financing options).I have a semester break coming up in which I hope to go out and get a feel for the Cape Town market - open to anything.

Like many of you, I’ve put in the hours and years at my day job, saved, done the right things, and realized that I need to be doing more than relying on stocks and 401(k)s (I’m not a fan of mutual funds).

Save it for a big repair bill?

@Brandon Turner often talks about saving $100 per month or so for CAP EX, but we might not need this for years (hopefully).

It saves substantial $$ on flips and leasing. 

To me to be less conventional and less professional to save a little money is silly. 

be organized.Example:3 months goalEnroll in real estate class-network and meet at least 3 real estate related professionalsSave XXX dollars toward first purchaseWork on marketing strategy, and overall strategy (define markets, focus will be SFR, buy and hold with 150.00 cash flow etc) 6 month goal--pass real estate exam--Save xxx--Improve credit score from 675 to 745make these goals quantifiable and specific, in other words you can cross them off when you get them done.The plan won't be perfect buy it's a plan and you show you are executing on it. 

The idea of doing this when I have very little cash saved up, scares me though.

I offered to rent it to them way below market value so the house is occupied while I’m away for work and in hopes they can save money to purchase it .

Thus, you just need to save for the 25% down payment.