You have your one chance as the BANKER to have communication.

Give yourself the chance to find out what’s possible for you.

Should there be a recession I'm estimating that I'll drop from 75-80% occupancy down to around 40-50%.

There's a 50% chance your relationship won't last, so be prepared in case that happens.If you can both work remotely, I recommend moving to a more affordable market.

(any feedback on that estimate is appreciated BTW).

Pittsburgh's current population is 302,000 (US census estimates 2024) whereas in 1950 it was 676,000. 

While it's not absolutely indispensable and many have been successful without, you'll maximize your chances of success.On another note, @Sebastian Papworth is right about the fact that many more tourists than usual are visiting Europe this summer.

This type of property has the chance to cashflow, even highly leveraged, in a market where cashflowing properties are quite difficult to find.Could house hacking a property like this work while I am going to school? 

I fully support doing everything you can as a landlord to be in compliance of local zoning and ordinances, so I want to use your thread as a chance to let newer investors know a really important lesson: you can call the local municipality prior to owning a property. 

I'm pretty confused as I thought FOR SURE this was a duplex given your estimate of $2,850 monthly cash flow.A duplex wouldn't even achieve that in this area.