Best city in the country to house hack as an FHA buyer?

[Tom Wagner]

So I'm incredibly fortunate to still be employed during these crazy times. I'm also fortunate enough to be able to work from anywhere in the country indefinitely, which has be re-evaluating my real estate ambitions.

Previously I was evaluating 2-4 family house hacks in Northern NJ, and those often fall in the $500,000 - $800,000 range with 0.7% to 0.9% price-to-rent ratios. I'm now living in Minneapolis for at least the summer and evaluating house hacking opportunities here as well, and triplexes/quadplexes here often run $500,000 to $700,000 with 0.8% to 1.0% price-to-income ratios.

FHA loan limits vary by city/state and in certain areas such as CA/NJ/NY they max out at approximately $1,450,000 -- see here for reference:

https://entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/hicostlook.cfm

I can live anywhere in the country. Is there any city in the country where I can find a duplex, triplex or fourplex above $1,000,000 that meets the 1% rule?

[Todd Dexheimer]

The majority of the US, besides the West coast and parts or the upper east coast will be just fine for this strategy. I would focus on a market that you would enjoy living in and has solid fundamentals.

Here is my criteria to determine a good market:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/10145/83188-finding-emerging-markets