House Hack a Duplex or Single Family?

[Justin Lichtle]

I recently read Set for Life and am trying to use real estate to provide a passive income stream. I just graduated college in May and my wife and I live in an apartment within half a mile of both of our jobs. It seems like the best way to get into real estate might be a house-hacked duplex. But there are no duplexes near the area where I work (think classic suburbia). Habitable duplexes in safe neighborhoods will run about $200k and will be about 12 miles from our jobs. This would require us to drive to work, 25 minutes each way, but we could carpool. The other option would be to buy an older home within a mile of work for about $150k and try to sell it for a profit or rent it out after a year. We don't have a ton of savings and will probably need to use an FHA loan for the smaller down payment. I don't want to work a 9-5 for my whole life and am willing to make some sacrifices in the short term to reach our long term goal of financial freedom. Any advice would be appreciated.