SFR or house-hacking with a duplex?

[Amanda Pool]

Hello! I'm looking into options for my first real estate investment. My original plan was to use a large portion of my savings as a down payment on a single family rental, and continue paying rent for the condo I'm living in now. I'm extremely interested in the idea of house-hacking, and living in one unit of a duplex while renting out the other. This option would require much less of a down payment, and I would be able to leverage my savings to use toward another investment in a shorter amount of time. However, the selection of duplexes in my area seems to be slim pickings. The ones that I've been able to locate are in less than desirable neighborhoods, or far out of my price range. Single family rentals, on the other hand, seem to be abundant and affordable, but the idea of having all of my capital tied up in one property isn't ideal. What would ya'll do in my position? I'm willing to wait for a great deal, but I don't want to miss out on an opportunity that I should have taken. Thanks in advance :)