Should I stick with the traditional single family or maybe look for a duplex?  

My friend should have went to a traditional lender not one that specializes in temp to perm loans and transactional funding. 

When I asked him if he ever received a letter "we buy houses cash"... he said no.... he never did in many years.I was surprised and thought... maybe there are good opportunities.... vacation homes are typically the first ones someone wants to sell when is distressed and have lesser sentimental value for the owner and typically have some equity (as traditional financing asks for bigger down payments to get a mortgage for vacation homes then residence)Can you share your experience buying under priced houses on vacation places (beach or ski resorts)? 

Real estate interests me because I feel like I've already done all I can (conservatively) with traditional investing (stock market, bonds, etc.) for now and I'd like to pay myself for housing instead of other people while I go to school. 

Keep in mind that the "counter" is not a counter at all in the traditional sense. 

He believes that a majority of people that live in this area, especially those who are single, dont have the down payment/1st/last month rent for a traditional apartment.

Of course the only thing it really did was make it so financially stable people with high incomes now struggle to get a traditional loan without putting down insanely high down payments, paying points, and providing 1000 pages of documentation for the earnings to mortgage companies. 

Traditional lending sources won't be available in this case as title is today.  

Student housing should be compared to student housing and not so much to more traditional real estate.  

This undoubtedly wins business from conservative, traditional family-values types.. but on the flip side of the coin, it really ended up alienated a segment of customers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick-fil-A_same-sex...