OVERVIEW Listing 109,900 Purchase 106,000 Down Payment 26,500 Closing Costs 12,393 Cash Needed 38,893 Loan Amount 79,500 Annual Taxes 4,444 CASH FLOW Mo Annual Income 1,480 17,760 Unit 1 800 9,600 Unit 2 680 8,160 OpEx 441 5,290 Homeowners 70 840 Vacancy 74 888 Property Management 89 1,066 Maintenance 74 888 CapEx 74 888 Utilities 60 720 NOI 1,039 12,470 Loan 435 5,220 Taxes 370 4,444 Cash Flow 234 2,806 ANNUAL METRICS Cash on Cash 7.2% Cap Rate 11.8% Payback Period (Yrs) 14

Although it was only a couple grand, it dropped my credit score a decent amount. 

I understand a large amount of investors would prefer not to get involved in that, as they're primarily looking for a cash buyer period.

Your biggest challenge, in my opinion ( and what I am currently facing now) is the amount of money you have saved and coming in as well as being young. 

The property must be your primary residenceSingle Family, condo, or 2-4 Unit3% Minimum Down PaymentBelow is a comparison of Conventional vs FHA.Both are assuming no point loans.Conventional LoanLoan Amount $450,000Rate 4.5%Term 30 Year FixedPayment $2,280.08 – Principal & InterestPMI $172.50Total Payment $2,452.58FHA LoanLoan Amount $457,875Rate 4.125%Term 30 Year FixedPayment $2,219.09 – Principal & InterestPMI $316.08Total Payment $2,535.17 You may want to look into this loan product.

With the amount he has in his account and no mortgage he should be able to handle vacancies and repairs, this is a valid point, reserves are essential. 

I also have the tiniest amount of experience in real estate investing, I flipped a townhouse in my 20's, and help my family run a few airbnb's and am a new real estate agent.

I calculated the amount of interest payments i'd pay the lender for the first year alone and it amounts to about 22k.

Some banks allocate how much they can loan for different amounts of money.

Tell him you’ll do 15k down and X amount each month with interest over X amount of years .