I’ve been a serial house hacker in the greater Boston area so happy to connect and share some lessons learned.Multifams inventories are quite low depending on your budget and location preferences.  

I’m hoping that once I do have enough saved I can buy the second property and continue house hacking.

Use tools like the VA loan for house hacking and your Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) to cover living costs while building equity.

@Rolayne Taylor We are just alike I started in 2019 with my first house hack.

If your goal is to offset your mortgage with a house hack then Lowell would be a good bet, but if you're looking for a longer term appreciation play then the areas closer to the city would be better, although the offset from cashflow may be lower than what you're looking for.A good step for you would be to dig into specific areas more as @Lien Vuong noted above.

Educate yourself on how to house hack.

House hacking our basement as our first investment, we have remodeled and redone our entire basement and now getting ready to rent out.

House Hacking is a good route to get started. 

@Chloe Salcedoi'd start with a house hack.

Quote from @AJ Satcher: I am currently house hacking with an upper/lower setup - I occupy the upper.