new investor looking to maximize first house hacking

[Khoa Nguyen]

Hello everyone,

I am new to the real estate realm and looking for advice. My goal is to start my real estate journey with house hacking. I currently work in health care profession so i plan to do mid term rental to nurse. i am currently sub-lease my apt so my rent is less than $500. I am debating whether it is worth it to buy a house (with 20% down) and rent out to the same tenant and get another tenant. I am currently living in Prescott Valley, Arizona. My thought process is that i am paying $1200 rent for a 2 beds 1 bath vs getting a $350000-$400000 3 beds 2 baths home with monthly payment of $2100-$2400 (PITI with 7% interest rate).

I figure that it will be better to rent for now since if i am to buy a house, i need to find a renter who willing to pay 900-1200 without factoring any capex, maintenance and vacancy. In addition my COC return is $0 instead of investing $70000 (20% of 350k house) into a saving account with 5% yield sound like a bad investment to me. Can some expert help me understand the idea why would it benefit to buy than to rent ? appreciate all of your advices and help.

p/s: i could potentially get a fixer upper for 280-300k and put in 20-30k to renovate (still a newbie at this aspect too), but it still do not worth it to buy in my opinion.