House hack a multifamily in the San Francisco bay area?

[Carole D.]

My Husband and I are struggling to decide the best course of action and are hoping the BP community could weigh in with their advice...

We live in San Francisco and currently pay $2,500 a month for a studio apt and have a baby on the way (very soon). We realize that the market is high right now but it also seems to make sense in our lives to buy now. Initially we planned to invest in some SFR in Florida but have been considering the advantages of house hacking a multi-family here in the bay area, probably Oakland. I am very interested in this option but I also have reservations because of the large singular investment. I have tried to get as much information as possible to understand at what point the market is in but i'm getting everything from "Danger- SF bay area is on the brink of the next tech bubble crash" to "Safe- because of the amount of capitol available in the bay area the market is really only overvalued by 10% as opposed to a real bubble market which is overvalued much higher"

I see that the multi-families available are definitely retail post flip prices, especially in the areas I would consider living in with a baby and many of those have rent controlled tenants.

I'm trying to think creatively about moving forward weighing our $30,000 annual rent bill against potentially having a $600,000-$800,000 mortgage in a single 4 plex where it seems to make sense financial now but I'm concerned about market crash or unforeseen event.

I guess my question is what would you do, invest elsewhere and stay put with high rent or dive into a bay area house hack? Am I missing some thought process or option that is right in front of me? 

I really appreciate anyone's input!

Thanks,

Carole