Should I start or take another year to prepare in an apt?

[Travis Collins]

I'm wanting to get into a multi-family house hack in 3-6 months. I'm currently not in my own place and would like to be on my own as soon as possible, an apartment is also an option.

I started a new job 3 months ago that increased my income to ~$80-90k/yr (sales, mostly base salary with some commision) and I do ride sharing on the side to get up to around $100k. Monthly expenses are low, just a car payment and cell phone bill. All debt is closed accounts so technically no monthly payment due to them.

If I go with the house hack:
Depending on the bureau, credit is currently around a 560-600. Debt is $15k in closed accounts, I'd be looking to pay off $5k of them to bump my credit to hopefully 620-630 by the time I were to actually purchase in the next 3-6 months. I'm OK with a higher interest rate in the short term, I can always refi in the future. With paying off some small debts to bump my credit I could have about $12-14k saved in 6 months. Duplex's in my area are around $250k and I've been told that there is down payment/closing cost assistance that could fund me $11k total. If true, I could have enough to get into a property. Once in, I'd continue to save a decent reserve fund since I would keep my low cost of living.

If I go with an apartment, I could do a house hack in 12-18 months depending on what kind of rent I could get.

If you were in my shoes and needed to get a place, would you go ahead and go with the house hack or wait, get an apartment, pay of all debt and get a savings together and then do a house hack 1-2 years later?