We're having to reorient our entire portfolio and sell pretty much all our big houses and condos because they don't cash flow anymore. 

Follow These Steps BEFORE You Start Flipping Houses in 2024 - it goes over the basics, choosing locations, etc. 

The house hacking will pay dividends for a long time I’m sure.

We live well, have a nice house which I built from the ground up and saved 200k off the top. 

A couple tips--Always best to house hack small multis when you are moving around from base to base. 

Which is why I think house hacking is best for 90% plus of new buy and hold investors.I wrote an article on this a while back that goes into more depth and you might find that helpful: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/get-a-loan

Further context, I have zero debt, high 700s credit score, one other investment property here locally. 175k in cash available, looking to do DSCR loans or cash and then refinance.Peoria, Illinois- Great need for lower income housing, market appears to have many options.Lawton, Oklahoma- Looking only at extremely cheap properties, as it seems it’s not terribly hard to find renters.

@Angelica Byrnecan you just save up enough until you are able to house hack? 

Perhaps you have coverage for the replacement value BUT the insurance company when calculating the replacement property uses modern building materials like drywall but your original house had plaster which is much more expensive.

House hacking is a great way to get started.