Single Family V Duplex for first time investor

[Chris Lawlor]

Hi Folks, 

Hope the weekend is going swimmingly for you all. I'd appreciate some of your sage advice on which way to go for our first property. 

We are currently looking for a duplex to house hack in the NY Capital Region, but given the extreme shortage of stock we're considering revising our search to include single family property too. We would live in it for the first year or so and then rent it out. 

I'm just a bit concerned about the margins in SF property. With just one unit, the pro's are, you would hope to get a good family in that will stay for a number or years, but the con's are, hitting the 1% rule seems to be difficult in the Capital Region. A lot of markets seem to be topped out and it's hard to see property prices increasing significantly above what we're at in many of the neighbourhoods that our budget fits at the moment. 

I realise that there's no exact science to this, but I wonder if anyone is or has been in a similar situation. What strategy did you take? 

Thanks folks.