@Landon RasmussenPaint it, switch out all the lights for daylight LED, clean it like a laboratory inside, mostly denude the landscaping outside no matter how lush and beautiful you think it is. 

The beauty in my opinion with house hacking is the momentum your build by living for free or close to free while your tenant pays your mortgage down.

I came across real estate after continuously seeing a real estate business in my local Houston neighborhood purchasing old, dingy homes and flipping them into something beautiful. 

Charles with 3.5% down and then moved out and now rent it - just like your plan), is that the numbers might not be beautiful - it can be tough to accomplish with such a low down payment.

The beauty of real estate. 

Our backyard was lush green with beautiful grass. 

I just bought a beautiful home and, while I dont need it, would like to move in two working professionals into the two vacant rooms while I lived I stayed in the master. 

I'm having problems visualizing how to fix up properties to the extent that they need to be, and not overspending to make it beautiful or restore to former glory.

Let your rentals pay for your big beautiful house.

We came across this little 2BR/1 BA ea average condition duplex in the downtown area built in 1964 with beautiful hardwood floors, just in need of a little TLC and updating (eventually).