First time house hack in expensive area

[Matthew Balter]

I'm looking to buy my first property this year and house hack. However, the location I currently live in is an expensive area (however has great school and is mostly higher income individuals). This causes a duplex to be out of my price range so i would mostly have to purchase a single family and rent rooms out which should not be an issue. Im looking for advice on recommendation on how much to spend or if looking farther away in a cheaper market for a duplex might make more sense. For instance, currently a 3bed 3 bath (not full bath) is for sale for about $490k. I understand some of the key metrics in terms of loans but would like to understand more if less cash flow in a higher value market makes sense for a first time house hack. I appreciate all of your insights and understand its very situational dependent so it may vary.