BiggerPockets

There are a few flys in the ointment.

For one, when you buy a house, you get a loan. Typical loan terms are 30 years. Current interest rates are around 6%, depending on your credit. The payment on $135,000 with those terms is $809/month. Of that $809, $675 is interest. So, the principal paydown is only $134, not the full $809.

If you're actually paying $2800/month, then there will still be just the $675 in interest, so you will pay down the loan quickly. But you'll still owe about $20,000.

The problem is that you have a bunch of other expenses in addition to the payment on the mortgage. The first two biggies are insurance and taxes. These vary a lot, but will amount to several hundred a month. Then you have utilities, which can also be several hundred a month. If someone drops out or moves out, you'll have the vacancy expense. That is, you'll have those months when you don't have the rent coming in. You'll want to create some sort of company, like an LLC, and have it own the property. That way when someone comes over and gets falling down drunk and falls down the stairs they can't sue you personally. So, you'll have some costs to get that up and going and maintained each year. You'll also have maintenance expenses. Furnaces and roofs are expensive. All those little items like paint and toilets add up. Surely you don't think four college guys can live in a house for four years without any maintenance?

The real kicker is just getting the loan. To get a mortgage, you have to be able to show income. Typically 3-4 times the amount of the " PITI" payment. That's principal, interest, taxes, and insurance. On a $150,000 property, that's something like $1000-1300/month, depending on your local taxes and insurance. Can you show income of $3000+ a month?