Collect $900 Cashflow or Pay $500 House Hack?

[Max Cordova]

Is it better to cashflow $900 a month and it pays half your rent (while you save up money to invest) or house hack (live in one of the units and renter lives in the other unit and pays you) but you still pay an extra $500 towards the mortgage in a very desirable area? 

I'm thinking it might be better long term to invest and pay and extra $500 in the Hudson County area because rent will go up and the property can appreciate overtime. 

But the barrier of entry is high.

The other option will be that appreciation in central jersey won't be much of a factor but rents will be strong and rise overtime. Also it is much cheaper to get started here. 

This is all based on my own research. 

I live in Hudson County, NJ (near NYC). 

The cashflowing property is in Central Jersey.