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Crystal Bosch has had some ups and downs in her first home in St. Joseph. After graduating two years ago she bought an old house, she has fixed the floors but the celing is still unfinished.

Just when many college graduates think they have everything in place for life in the real world, one more staggering hurdle appears: finding a place to live.

Without a steady income, a good credit score or experience in the realm of buying and renting, a young employee may struggle in the housing market.

Recent graduate Crystal Bosch, who is currently in a fast-track teaching certification program, became a homeowner three years ago with the help of her parents. Because she earned scholarships for college, her parents took the money they had saved to help her pay tuition and instead used it to purchase a house, albeit a fixer-upper.

A new porch now spans the front of Ms. Bosch’s home, renovated wood floors shine underfoot and the walls have fresh coats of bright paint. Even though she is still working on a few repairs, Ms. Bosch has found some benefits in her situation.

“My house was very, very cheap, and then the renovations really weren’t that bad,” she said. “They were expensive, but not as expensive if I had bought a house that was completely redone.”

Ms. Bosch said her house payments are cheaper than the rent payments most of her friends make.

“A lot of them want to buy a house but are struggling,” she said. “Not necessarily the payments ... but more like the down payment or the bigger parts of it.”

For graduates who find themselves needing outside help, there are agencies to assist.

Apartment Search, a free, nation-wide service for anyone who is house-hunting, works to narrow a real estate search based on details like preferred neighborhoods and amenities. Kristie Sullivan, a marketing coordinator with the Lenexa, Kan. branch of Apartment Search, said agents see a lot of new high school and college graduates, as well as summer interns looking for temporary housing.

“It’s a heck of a lot easier to go through (Apartment Search) than trying to do it on your own,” she said. “It’s the agent’s job to know what’s out there and what’s available.”

While some companies will offer new hires corporate discounts on housing, Ms. Sullivan said not many government-sponsored price cuts are directed at new college graduates.

In many cases, college students are not eligible for the sources of government help that do exist.

Sharon Hope, director of the St. Joseph housing authority, said her office provides rental assistance to low-income individuals based on standards set by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, but that young people often do not qualify.

“They have to meet our income guidelines,” Ms. Hope said. “Many college grads don’t — they’re over our income limit.”

Some graduates are also disqualified from subsidized housing because getting any kind of fiscal help from their parents means they are not financially independent.

With or without help, graduates who understand the game can still find housing successfully.

John Brock, licensed assistant with Evans Realty in St. Joseph, said one of the biggest factors in buying and renting is credit.

“It’s hard to get loans considering most kids, when they get out of college, have little to no credit,” he said.

Bad credit can also block housing transactions since many lenders will not make loans to a potential buyer with bad credit, which Mr. Brock said might be a result of a spike in bad loans during the last two years.

Coming up with a down-payment when new graduates do not have a lot of money at their fingertips can also create a problem, though a more manageable one.

“You can work around the closing costs or down-payment,” Mr. Brock said. “It’s hard to work around bad credit.”

Linda Garlinger, director of career development at Missouri Western State University, said many students tackle the housing situation early by moving off-campus as an undergraduate. She still cautions students against first-time mistakes, such as signing a lease before fully reading the details, and said it’s also important to allot enough money for expenses like utilities, trash pickup and water.

“We’re really fortunate here to have a good cost of living, quality of life,” she said.

Ms. Garlinger said she hasn’t heard many housing horror stories from students in St. Joseph, and that classmates can often help each other out in the real estate market.

“Most of our students are word of mouth — they tell each other, 'This is a good place to live,’” she said. “I think they tend to work very well in terms of sharing information about those things with each other.”