@Lane Kawaoka you hit the nail on the head for me!! 

Our question is would it be smart to take out this loan to get a head start on investing, or should we spend the next few years building the capital ourselves without taking out a loan?

@Jon Lampert I would agree with this, however it is a business model that we can all wrap our heads around.

I think you have a great idea as far as where you are heading and rent by the room is definitely the strongest strategy to live for free and cashflow.

The tenant pool is really strong and the rents are headed north in a hurry. 

Walk away with $25k of initial equity of about $65k... rough number I did off top of my head, but it works on multi's as well.

I believe if you are truly committed in 4 years of being a realtor you will be way a head of the game.

I know there are many horror stories about people/groups getting in over their head with a project. 

Back in March of last year, the real estate market looked to be headed into a steep decline due to widespread stay-home orders.Since then, homebuyers, supported by low-interest rates, have kept the US housing market afloat.

And since nobody seems to sell to conventionally financed buyers these days it looks like I'll be heading down that road.