Help Me Analyze My First Deal

[Tyler Shane Martindale]

I am a university student and I'm super excited to get started in investing, and I found a duplex in my market in a great location (close to work, two universities, shopping, church, park, etc.) that I'm interested in. The asking price is $325,000. I'm looking into house hacking, I would be living in one half, and renting out the other. I would use an FHA loan since I would be living in it for at least 2-3 years while I finish school.

I used the BP calculator, and it shows that as long as I lived in one half, I would have a monthly cash flow of approximately -$250, which is obviously bad. However, if I were to live in an apartment with roommates and a shared room would cost me $350-$450/month in this area. So it would be cheaper for me to live in the duplex.

Another option would be to rent out rooms in my half of the duplex to roommates to make up the remaining $250.

Once I finish school, refinance, move out of the duplex, and being renting out both units, I would then have a monthly cash flow closer to $300/month ($150/unit).

My questions:

In your experience, is this a good deal? Should I pursue this or keep looking?

Would it be reasonable to offer $299k?

Any other thoughts or advice y'all have would be appreciated as well. Thanks!