What time frame to look at properties for housing hacking?

[Ben Hunt]

Hello Bigger Pockets!

I'm a 24 year old software engineer living in Austin Texas, and am looking to do a multi-family house hack in September and begin my real-estate journey. It is currently 2/1/2020 and my lease expires 9/17/2020. I'm trying to do everything I can to prepare for a successful house hack.

I've gone and looked at properties in the area and online but mostly just to get a feel of whats out there. I'm not sure what time frame I should be actually scoping out and underwriting deals. As of right now, I'm looking to get a 4-Plex property that is some-what distressed.

From y'alls experience, what time frame prior to this 9/17/2020 move out date on my lease, should I be actively looking for properties? 

Also, any other advice on how I should prepare would be fantastic!

Thanks,

Ben

[Ben Hunt]

@Jordan Moorhead, thanks. It seems the overall theme I'm hearing is, start now!
@Ryan Kelly, Yeah, the zip codes I'm looking in definitely are more pricey. My main constrain on this MF property, is that I'll be a primary resident so I need to be in close proximity to my work. I work close off rolling wood and mopac here in Austin.