House hacking a single family

[Matt I.]

I know it sounds unorthodox, but I did it. I used a first time home buyer loan to purchase a rowhome in a gentrifying section of east Philadelphia. I have a friend from college taking my spare room, paying half of my mortgage. I'll be doing finish upgrades over time. MY dilemma lies in scalability. Since I'm still paying $500 a month plus utilities, it's a bit harder to save cash for my next investment. I guess you could say I purchased a liability for the time being. I only own 3ish% of the house so I feel I don't have a lot of leverage/equity. I've considered looking for a partner for my next deal, but my money is planned for more upgrades. I do however have skills in design, and building 3d modeling and rendering . I have a degree in architecture and work at a firm, although I am not licensed yet. This skill has to be worth something to an investor... How does one scale from an owner occupied single family? Thanks all🤘