@Michael Davisstart with a house hack

The good news is you don't need a specialty loan for a house hack, just a traditional primary home loan.

Thank you Eric.In addition to the rental properties, my wife and I have a paid off house, paid off car, and about $1.4m in retirement accounts, brokerages, and savings.We live in a HCOL area and our expenses are $9.5k per month even though we live pretty modestly.I set out initially to have real estate pay for at least some of my expenses in order to give me more freedom and financial security.Is your wife quitting too? 

Single-gender homes are only for transitional housing (like soberliving houses, halfway houses, etc). 

BRRR/house hack/str/mtr/ltr.... leveraged equity building vs. cash flow).3.

I am a wholesaler looking to also break into house hacking, brrrr strategy, and eventually fix and flips.I am in west TX areaWhere in Tx are you currently and what strategies do you employ? 

I would for NOT do tree houses for liability reasons.

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. 

Beginning my house hacking journey and looking to connect with as many other investors in our area as possible. 

And that mistake came back to cost me tens of thousands in lost rent and damaged houses.