Insane to be able to buy a house in college - I could barely afford rent in a crappy shared flat

The monthly mortgage payment on a house in many rural areas in the US is far less than shared rent in dense cities.

A friend of mine was making $20 an hour at a part time manufacturing job while he had classes, and full time plus overtime during breaks. It would have been plenty for a down payment on such a house, if he'd wanted to, but he put the money towards tuition to limit school loans instead. This was 20 years ago, give or take, so very much not the norm, but definitely possible.

To add: I think a minimum down payment for the mortgage probably would have been in the $4 or $5,000 range.

If this was pre 2008 you could get a mortgage if you could fog a mirror.

I could've bought a house for $20k a few miles from my school. Rust belt.

mortgage payments are often cheaper than rent payments