Investing out of college

Do you have friends?  Do your friends live/work near you?  My best advice is to look at purchasing a duplex with your friends.  Make sure there are 3-4 bedrooms on each side of the duplex.  Your investment team (you and your friends) rent out one side of the duplex which will most likely cover the mortgage.  If you are short a couple hundred dollars than you and your 3-4 friends split the shortfall.  It’s okay to lose money on a deal like this because you need a place to live and you would be paying rent anyway.  Consider this payment to your mortgage, your rent payment, except it is going to you.  In five years, maybe you all move out, rent out the other side and make money splitting it multiple ways.   You can buy a duplex FHA with as little as 5% down.  Can you and your friends come up with $10,000 to $15,000?  I graduated with about $4,000 in my account.  Can your parents loan you money?  Can you max out credit cards?- (I don’t recommend).  Can you get a second job and stash the money?  All of these things can be used to get some extra money. 

It is even better if you can come up with the money on your own and rent out rooms to your friends.  That way you are living rent free, and by renting out the rooms to your friends you are getting the full benefit of a duplex while still living in one unit.

First thing first – do your research, know property prices and rents, find a deal and then look for money.  If the deal works, you should be able to find money.  I did.