House hacking in palm beach county Florida

[Heather Wear]

Hello BP community :)

I have been eager to start my real estate investing career for a few years now and am now looking to purchase my first home. I live in palm beach county Florida and I want to house hack in order to be able to save for a second property.

I am pre approved for 225k. I would love a duplex or triplex to start out with but in my area with that amount of money I have had no such luck finding any. So I was hoping to get a 3 bedroom property and rent out the other 2 rooms but I am only really seeing 2 bedrooms from what my realtor is sending me on the mls. So renting a room out would help me out but I am still going to end up paying a lot with the remainder of the mortgage and possibly HOA.

I am wondering if there is a better strategy I should take or if anyone knows a surrounding area that might be better for what I’m trying to do. I work from home so I could potentially move further I would just prefer to be close to my family.

Any input is much appreciated!