Is buying a manufactured home crazy?

[Karly Hall]

Ideally I would love to start investing in real estate using the house hacking method. My husband and I are working hard to find a lender that will work with us, however he is self employed and starting flight school (which requires a large loan) and my income alone will not qualify us for a traditional loan in our market. 

Instead of continuing renting, I have been considering purchasing a manufactured home. My thought is that we can take advantage of the lower cost of living to start saving, and also be able to build a small amount of equity to be able to leverage to buy our first douplex/triplex after he has finished school.

If anyone has any advice or suggestions, I'd love to hear it!