Advice on House Hacking for First Single Family Home?

[Corey Bias]

Hi everyone: I am looking to invest in my first single family residence to house hack in Georgia.

Originally, I was planning on investing in home options that would be no more than a particular purchasing price (no HOA fees). However, I'm seeing I'll bring in more cash flow by finding a single family residence that may need cosmetic updates, but that would be around 60% less (no HOA fees) with 3 (maybe even 4) bedrooms, 1.5+ bathrooms.

I let my realtor know of my purchasing price change recently: I was basically told that houses within this range get sold very quickly within this market and that I don’t really have a chance, especially since I would be going in the finance direction. I could go back up to my original purchasing price, but I would not be comfortable paying the resulting mortgage, etc. by myself each month if I’m not able to find roommates right away.

What can I do at this point? Is my realtor correct? Would it be wise to hold until I feel more comfortable looking into SFH with a higher purchase price in this market?