Strategic question for my first property

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Hey BP,

I'm new to the game trying to get my first rental property in the Mesa/Gilbert/Chandler AZ area. I'm looking at small multi-family for house hacking but have the following issues with risk and financing.

1. conventional lenders require 10+% down on multi-family

2. buying the property in my name (to get cheaper financing) and then transferring to LLC (to mitigate landlording risk) isn't possible from the lenders I've talked to (due on sale clauses can be triggered)

3. Waiting & saving more for down payment leaves me stuck renting my personal residence and potentially can't keep pace with market prices

I'm considering putting my rental purchase on hold and buying a personal residence first to secure my financial health but this still leaves me at square 1 with my investing journey. Any thoughts or advice?
- other asset classes I should be considering?

- is house hacking not a good strategy if you're needing asset/legal protection?

- other financing avenues (I gravitate toward traditional financing because it's straight forward and one less complication to manage as I start out)?

Thanks for your input!!