I used my house hacking here in Los Angeles and utilized the equity to buy out of state.

For Example:  All Blue houses make more money.Lots of times, I tell people not to trust me, since my topics can be vetted, plus I don't know their personal situations.Just surprised that people on the Forum don't have more Podcast visits referenced in their bylines. 

I performed audit work in low income housing. 

Companies that hire in-house bookkeepers are victims of fraud more times than you can count.

on a 100 year old house that rents for $1000 a month that's about to need a new everything - that is spectacularly deficient.  

We bought our house in TN with only 5% down.

In your case of a fourplex, option 2 should get you a better deal.I would also agree with Bill on how the number of units may not correlate with the value of the property unless it is a large multifamily complex, and sometimes a fourplex or several single family houses would give you better returns. 100% We always recommend conventional first until you can no longer qualify for those. 

The housing crisis saw record numbers of foreclosures of single-family homes in Maricopa County in 2010.

The reason I post this here is because I got totally different answers from two CPAsHere is the story:I bought the house as investment property and run it as STR for the last two years.

If you’re comfortable with a bigger investment, a duplex is good for the benefit of additional cash flow and you could house-hack.