Lived in The Woodlands for almost 19 years now and been investing up in this area for the last 9.

Use tools like the VA loan for house hacking and your Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) to cover living costs while building equity.

As MFH is dropping there shorts to get and keep full occupancy, offering every spif imaginable, larger units are to accommodate families of size or multi-gen living is a rare inventory. 

I recently purchased my first duplex in Peoria, AZ in September and I am using it as a house hack where I rent out one side and live in the other.

You have multiple who do this for a living telling you how it works.

I don't know your living situation but if your paying x,xxx for rent or a mortgage and instead by living in one side and renting out the other you will be paying y,yyy instead and y is less then x that's great, especially if you can rent out your primary residence and make income there too. 

Once you take over a property as an owner occupant, if it is a single family or condo you can live in it for 1 year and that automatically exempts your unit from rent control.

Everyone has to live somewhere.

I live in California, this is a bay area property.were not looking to move out of state and house hacking is less palatable when a duplex costs 1.6 million.

I try sending a video or doing a live video walk-through with them so they can get a better idea of the layout, condition, neighborhood, etc.2.