Starting with house hacking is a smart move, especially in a higher-cost area.

Stay consistent and things will start to fall into place

@Omar Fernandez - you can start by reaching out to some attorneys, NYC is an attorney city so you'll have to get an attorney involved (who usually orders the title search). 

Start with the end in mind --- what would be the investor's exit strategy for this home? 

if you are looking for advice, you are in the right forum. start reading and grow

For your mortgage, a 30-year loan will give you lower monthly payments, which could be ideal while starting out.

I wouldn't start investing in the US if you have no plans on coming back from living in China.

You start with a base line and introduce variables to determine their effect.You can see what trends have happened if you choose to, that may be of interest to you, but that isn't what currently interests me.

I just started off in the market searching for knowledge, I would appreciate if you can give me some advices, thank you! 

Personally, I started off getting referrals from other real estate investors when building my team but eventually found and added my own people to my network over time.