Recently acquired duplex and used Avail for everything- advertising, screening, lease signings, deposit collections, etc.

I'd love to find a duplex but seems my income wouldn't support that.

For instance, one property seems to have an extra bathroom that is not listed in the county records.I plan to make some modifications, including removing a closet wall to expand a bathroom and taking out a kitchen island that contains electrical outlets and a switch.

I'm planning to refinance my Va Loan to a Convential Loan to free up my Va Loan again to buy a duplex for house hacking.

Were you targeting traveling professionals in particular for your house hack, and if so, was it a SFH or a duplex type situation?

It sounds like a duplex or smaller multi so getting detailed information for this size of property may be very limited.

If you buy a duplex and your "cost" per month is 750 (just using a number) but for you to rent or (even buy) a similar single family it would cost you 2000 a month then you are still 1250 a head every month! 

And then you will purchase a new investment property and all of the gain is tax deferred indefinitely as @Jaron Walling said.The way to combine and get both advantages would be to move out and turn that property into an investment property for a year. 

im new to this just bought first duplex and am house hacking. been keeping up w bigger pockets and before that dustin heiner' podcast. being green, even i know that you never buy/acquire negative cashflow. thats just dumping money down the toilet. second, every real estate guru will tell you never bank on appreciation. thats gambling. home prices are at an all time high, if nything you bank on your property depreciating some and then returning to purchase price HOPEFULLY. you imagine your worst scenarios, lowest rents, longest imaginable time of vacancy, most drastic uncovered repair/situation, over estimate expenses. create your buffers. if the numbers still work then, then you buy. if the numbers work and you casah flow $250+/month i say go for it. it hard to get above that without significant down payments or finding a rare steal. at this time i think best value and only way to guarantee any kind of appreciation is to buy low and rehab. 

One is a duplex I currently live in since 1993.