Here's my situation... $50k cash to play with. SFR vs. MFR?

[Eric Bate]

I've got $50k to work with, and I need a place to live in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis or St Paul).  Here are some of the options going through my mind:

1. Buy a SFR and get roommate-tenants off Craigslist. (Buy-and-hold)

2. Buy a duplex.  Live in one side, rent out the other.

3. Buy a cheap place in cash just for me to live in (probably not in a great neighborhood... not looking forward to that).  Then get a home equity loan to put a downpayment on another place, which I would rent out.

4. Continue living in an apartment, but use the $50k to get into buying-fixing-and-flipping as a side gig to build up more capital.

Is there really much of a difference between options 1 and 2?  Lately I've just been focusing on duplexes for house hacking, but I'm trying to expand my thinking here and see if there are any better options.

I'm paying about $1000/mo in rent right now, so once I've got a place that pays its own mortgage and expenses, I could start building up capital a lot faster than before.  My long-term goal here is to have a place of my own plus rental properties to supplement the income from my music.

Thanks!

Eric