When I was starting out, I would have loved to know that I don't need any cash or credit to make it happen.

I have had a job for 2 years, I have a credit score of about 720 (only had the card for a little over a year) and I plan to "house hack" the property I (hopefully) get approved for.

It is like a credit card in that, if you have a zero balance then it does not count against you.

I know plenty of people who can afford to buy a house, but are renters because they just moved to the country and don't have an established credit history.

Since he is a friend of yours he might be open to letting you rent with some sort of credit towards buying the place in a year or two.

I've also see very large variation in bids with the highest being more than double the lowest.

Running a Mortgage Credit Report on any potential tenant will pull up more dirt than a worthless online consumer credit report.If you have someone with an 800+ score, make concessions to have them as renters.If you have someone with a 580 score, pass!  

With PNC i may not have enough credit is my only worry unless maybe i decided to go FHA if that was an option.

Still hurts the seller's credit, but less than a foreclosure. 

So theoretically all I need now is to build a decent credit score in the US and I could get Freddie/Fannie loans without actually being a US resident?