However, appreciation is very low in cheap areas.

Most people I know start with low money down programs so they can get away with a initial capital investment of around $25k but you also need reserves.  

Anyone that is looking at your assets is always going to need to factor in property management, so you can show that as a real expense (and really make it as high or low as you want).I work in a vertically integrated real estate and development company, and I cannot imagine how things would run if we did not have an internal property management company that essentially works for the other companies but also stands on its own.

After 2 years you can apply for a “Rent consideration” (I think that’s what they called it) as long as you still live there and that may allow you to increase rents by more than the annual allowance (probably designed for unit that are very low rents).

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.  

It was great to get our heads in the game, and got us to move quicker to get a house (since we were basically forced to get a pre-approved loan in order to tour houses...).

I've never really done a deep dive in analyzing the area because it is a retirement community, median income is very low, and there arent a lot of jobs in the area.

Looking for a house we could house hack, had an incredibly low interest rate on mortgage and house has increased in value about 42%, an estimated 180k in equity.

Consider a HELOC for value-added BRRRRs or flips if you have a low interest rate.

However, I like that there isn't a lot of work to do and I could still make the property really cute with not much risk.Inventory is so low.