HouseHack in Boston area and/or invest in Hometown, St. Louis?

[Maddie K.]

Hi everyone!

Hope you're all well and staying safe. 

I am an "aspiring investor," as many people are. I've ingested a ton of information on YouTube, BP, books, talking to folks, and I'm fairly deep into the process of purchasing my first property (I've already made 1 offer). I've been working with an amazing agent, after interviewing a few, and am looking for my first house hack (most likely a 3 fam North of Boston in like Everett, Revere, Malden, Chelsea). I qualify for a MassHousing conventional loan and am looking to take advantage of those nice first-time homebuyer, owner occupied rates, actually nice PMI, and other perks of MassHousing.

For background, I'm a new grad with a really nice job as a software engineer here in Boston. I'm originally from St. Louis, specifically the Tower Grove South neighborhood. I have been happily surprised to see that it's gotten a fair amount of attention on BP and I've been interested in investing in St. Louis myself. Does this semi-plan sound sensible at all? I haven't wanted to flesh it out, because I feel like it might be unreasonable (although I know, if I really want to do it, I can make it happen):  I purchase a small multi in Boston that I house hack for a few years. Whenever I next can, I purchase a property in St. Louis? And then look into expanding my St. Louis holdings, or other long-distance holdings (if I'm still living in the Boston area)?

I want to househack in the Boston area because:

•  Using a first time homebuyer, owner occupied loan would be great, and allow me to buy a property in Boston (which is just very expensive in general) 
•  I already pay a stupid amount in rent (not a lot for the area, but I think I can find a deal that will allow me to live for free, or close to it). 
•  I could build equity in this area that appreciates rather quickly.
•  I plan on being in the Boston area, at least for a few more years, possibly more
•  I would like to provide a nice living space for the couple of tenants I'd have 

I want to buy properties in St. Louis because:

•  I am from there, want to invest in my hometown--i love the area and want to invest in the neighborhood, provide good housing, and be able to have that relationship with my hometown, even if i'm not living there. 
•  I know the streets there extremely well, know people on the ground, and feel like I can hold my own in long-distance investing in my actual hometown. 
•  It's much cheaper than Boston (for example, the properties I'm looking at in Boston are around 800K, while some overpriced multis in St. Louis might be 250K). I could theoretically buy more properties faster (I'd of course not take on more than I can handle), with just my income (I save a lot of my salary and live frugally). 

I'm a bit worried that:

• If I buy a househack out here in Boston, my DTI (debt-to-income ratio) would be too high for me to qualify for new loans to acquire other properties. But maybe that's not a valid concern, since you can incorporate rental income? I think this is my biggest concern.
• I may spread myself thin, having a property in Boston, and other properties in St. Louis? But I know long-distance REI is definitely possible.
•  The properties in Boston are so expensive, I don't know if I'd be able to buy more very quickly.

Thank you for any help or feedback on this "fork in the road"!