I want to start a daycare but can't afford a house?

It's not going to happen.

Your income is never going to qualify you for a home.

Taking care of children is rated as one of the lowest paying careers out there.

Barely enough to keep up with basic bills.

Not enough to save up for a down payment for a home.

Go with the Flow is kind of right. Daycare isn't as lucrative as one might really think. Yes, $50 /hr is a decent wage, but as a provider you're going to have to remember you also have to pay for insurance, inspections, licensing, and a mortgage/rent. You also have certain costs associated with it all such as food for the kids, but the states/counties generally have plans to help supplement this. You also, depending on the county can only care for so many children on your own (varies between counties I believe) and normally only two of those children can be under the age of two. So you also have to figure in that during the school year your age range of children being cared for would only be between 0 - 4 or 5. Take part of those 3 - 5 year olds away due to preschools running full day programs or mixed preschool and daycare and the client base shrinks even more.

It can work though as you mentioned and to answer your real question: It is going to be difficult to find a place to run a daycare at 20. You could do it in a rental property if the landlord allows it and if the city/county zoning allows it. That would probably be your best bet at your age and until you save up enough to put 20% down on your own home.

LOL getting rich babysitting. Well, here is the wake up call. The state, if you are licensed, restricts the number of kids in your care. The city also might have restrictions on how many kids you can watch in a home. And #3, parents will not pay you $250 a week for you to watch their child while they work (50 hours at your mythical $5 an hour). The average center-based day care charges about $100 a week for a preschooler. Now you are thinking ...... $600 a week for six kids! Well, you have to feed them. You have to buy supplies. You have to pay the light bill. You need to have a business insurance, and so on. If home day care providers were making $50 an hour, the field would be overrun with child care workers.

(and on a personal note, I would NEVER allow one person to care for my 4 year old if she had 9 other kids in her care, even if you charged $1 an hour. You cannot care for 10 kids by yourself in home -- safely -- ) This would also tell me you have no child care training or experience.

You are seriously jumping the gun. Take some courses in child care and see if the field is right for you.