I know other people that want to live "rent-free".

I also started utilizing creative financing to buy with no or low money down.Nowadays, you can definitely find a multi unit building like a duplex with a bonus unit to house hack and at a minimum cover your mortgage and live rent free, or even cash flow a little.

I am using it to house hack and I put about 15% down and live rent free as long as my tenants continue paying. 

If they fight it, you’ll need to evict, and they will live rent free X months and could trash the place. you want to avoid that scenario.) 

As a first-time home buyer, I would  buy an FHA 2-4 multi-family property in a less expensive area and let the other tenants rents cover most/all of the mortgage so you can mostly/totally  live rent-free in one of the other units. 

In Florida i live/rent in a single family home that was devided into four separate units almost like a house hack but the water/plumbing and electrical is spread use on one main devided between all four units, just to give perspective....My question is based around I'm about to renew my renters lease with (same landlord)/ [new management], first we didn't receive our new lease agreement about two weeks after our End of lease/renewal date.

The transplants that live in those towns already have contacts they could point you to or would call on their behalf.

We're recent transplants to CT, and we're close by!

These people know how the system works and what to tell the judges to get them to live rent-free.

Could be more difficult to cash flow as an investment property once you move out (if not renting out by the room)More affected by a vacancy (if not rented out by the room)More labor intensive if you rent out by the room.Not able to apply rental income to increase buying powerMFR ProsPrivacy/separation from your tenantsStill have the ability to rent out rooms in your unit for extra incomeLess affected by vacanciesAbility to apply rental income to your income thus allowing you to increase your purchasing powerAbility to scale fasterMFR ConsMore expensiveCan be difficult to live rent free in high cost of living marketsCan be more difficult to sell (but not always and/or if priced correctly)Lending rules change when purchasing 3+ unitsA great person to speak with in the area would be @Michael Haas.