18, Saving for House Hack, Unsure Which Path to Take – Advice Needed

[Kenny Banuelos]

Hey everyone,

I'm 18 years old and about to graduate high school in a few weeks. Over the past couple of years, I've worked part-time and managed to save around $30k in a CD, $3K in a Roth IRA, and about $2K in a money market. I've done this only making 20k each year from saving my W-2 income.

I’ve been studying personal finance and real estate for a while now, and my goal is to house hack my first property in the next year. I live in Taylorsville, Utah, where real estate is fairly expensive, and qualifying for a mortgage on my own right now isn’t realistic with the amount of money I’m making so realistically it might take me more like 2 years.

Here’s what I’m currently working on:

Interviewing for a bank job at $19/hr

Planning to become an electrician apprentice soon after, which would increase my income to ~$21/hr and lead to solid W-2 income within a few years

Committed to saving aggressively and maintaining low expenses

High interest in real estate (especially house hacking and wholesaling)

Open to building semi-passive income through content creation or real estate investing

Here’s where I’m stuck:

• I know going the W-2 route helps me qualify for financing, but I don’t want to be stuck trading time for money forever.
• I’m interested in wholesaling and documenting my journey online, but I’m a little shy about getting myself out there and not sure how to get started.
• I want to be smart with my savings—don’t want to lose it, but I also want to generate more than just 4% interest.

I’m just looking for advice from people who’ve walked this road—whether you started young, got into house hacking, or combined a trade job with real estate.

• What would you do if you were 18 again and in my shoes?
• Any recommendations for getting started in wholesaling or building an online presence around this journey?
• Should I wait a few years for my first house hack or pursue creative financing sooner?

Thanks for any guidance—I really appreciate it!