Rent out the rooms, living rent free.

A HML will want 25-35% of purchase price unless it is a crazy good deal too.What he needs is some friend or family member that has a few hundred grand in cash to make them a middle length term loan at like 6-8% then refi to a conventional loan once he has 20% equity.  

it's a great idea. when I was a kid my mom used to rent rooms in our house to handicapped people. 

I think a great way for you to start while still in school is getting a 3-4 bedroom house and renting out the rooms to friends (House hack).

Also, does anyone have estimates of how much one could expect both professionals to charge for helping someone set up a real estate investment in which the investor plans to purchase a home, live in it and rent out the rooms?

But she did charge us for her time to prepare that new power of attorney, which was nice.When closing finished, she simply closed the file and left the room.

Cost was $209K for the home, about $8K to furnish common area, do a minor stove retweaking and paint a few rooms.

Drawing a life sized portrait of me and shooting it with darts, babe guns and paint ball guns on my living room wall...  

If buying single family homes, your are then not only competing with other income buyers but also with the amenity buyer (I like the way the kitchen flows into the family room).

The out of pocket costs for this are around $60 grand.