Start out with live-in BRRRR? or Househack a MFH?

[Brian Engstrom]

So I have been weighing the options on what the best strategy is for my current situation and would love any advice that I could get. I've been going back and forth considering househacking a 4plex with an FHA, or doing a live-in BRRRR (unsure of financing.)

My wife and I have a 6 month old daughter and perhaps will have a 2nd child by the time we are ready to close on a deal. We're aiming to save $10,000 in cash by the end of the year and have some credit building (and of course learning) to do in the mean time. We live in central-IL and are targeting a couple of college towns for our first purchase. 

I've been leaning heavily towards doing a househack, but am not sure that we would be able to find an ideal situation for a family - living so close to our tenants/neighbors. Using a property manager could perhaps help with that. Positives I see are eliminating living expenses and perhaps gaining some immediate cash flow. 

Considering our family situation drives me to seriously consider a live-in BRRRR. However, it sounds to me that BRRRR requires a hard-money lender or straight cash to start - and I don't foresee having enough credibility with a hard-money lender, and of course don't have the cash to start. Is it possible to purchase a BRRRR with a 203k loan, then refinance afterwards? (Does this even sound feasible to find such a deal, refi/switch to 80% LTV and still come out of it with cash in hand?)

Any advice is appreciated, especially if I am misunderstanding anything! What's on the back of mind in considering each strategy is of course how efficiently we can take the steps to eventually purchase our 2nd deal. Thank you for the help