We have several months of reserves.

Second, if you don't have it already, develop an aggressive savings plan, you will need 10-20k on the low end (down payment/closing costs/maintenance/reserves/etc..).

However my guess is a residential loan as your primary residence won't be enough to cover the entire purchase.

The refinance closed on schedule, releasing equity for the down payment and post-close reserves—creating a repeatable path to scale the portfolio with future DSCR and room-by-room assets.Takeaways for investors using PadSplit/room-by-room models: clean payout records matter, expense transparency strengthens DSCR, and early valuation context helps avoid mismatched comps.

However, that leaves you without any money towards closing costs or reserves if something were to go wrong.Furthermore, I think you should mention where you want to invest in along with the type of house that you want to invest in to better gauge how much money you will need to invest.$100,000 may be enough for one person to invest but can also not be enough for another person to invest.

After taxes, insurance, and reserves, it still leaves me with positive monthly cash flow.The big win for me wasn’t just the spread — it was the $40K in equity built in from day one and the stronger LTV position for future refinancing.

HOA will eat your cash flow and if the HOA/board of members are ignorant or its being poorly managed the Reserve account may be in trouble or under 10% of the annual budget. 

So far I have only found credit unions and banks that offer this if my own resident address is in FL or in a state they have a bank in.

This part of town seems to offer more affordable options while still being relatively safe and convenient for students.The goal is to:Provide housing for our daughter and her friends starting January 2026 (spring semester).Structure the purchase as a primary residence, so we can qualify for better mortgage terms.Include myself, my husband, and my daughter on the mortgage application to strengthen our position and meet the owner-occupied requirement.Convert the property to a full rental down the road once she graduates.We think the $30,000 should cover a 5–10% down payment plus closing costs under the primary residence structure, and the property would serve as both a short-term housing solution and a long-term investment.Would love advice from the community on:Does this sound like a smart way to combine student housing with a first-time real estate investment?

I do have some more reserves in the stock market so could tap into that if needed for rehab/unexpected costs.