If you had priced it 50% higher, it would probably be sitting vacant several months later.We have a property near several low-income apartments. 

Can you lease an apt under USDA low income and have someone else live there???

Plus, house hacking with a VA loan’s benefits (no down payment, low interest) is a no-brainer.After a year, transitioning into BRRRR with single-family homes makes sense, especially since you’re working on your real estate license—it’ll sharpen your skills and help you spot opportunities.

Quote from @Devin James: When running numbers on an investment property, I focus more on equity growth than monthly cash flow.Here’s why:If I can acquire a property at a low basis and add significant value, I can: 1) Sell and reinvest elsewhere 2) Cash-out refinance to recapture my investment.

Rents are sky high in certain neighborhoods of Jersey City (we are second to NYC) as such many of the tenants are professionals with high income commuting to their jobs in NYC by ferry, 24 hour path train and bus.

Can try to reposition to Class B, but neighborhood may impede these efforts.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, but 15-20% should be used to also cover tenant nonpayment, eviction costs & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores of 560-620 (approaching 22% probability of default), many blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 2 years.

.), I'd recommend that the residential units fully cash flow the loan as my experience is that mixed use properties are tougher to finance as most lenders tend to prefer one or the other and something in the middle gets more difficult.For example, and granted I don't know anything about the area/neighborhood, I would expect this property (https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/111-NW-Har...) to be easier to finance than the mixed-use property you mentioned. 

I love those neighborhoods of Chicago.  

Real estate is not the stock market and it's called buy & hold and not buy & sell for a reason.I did sell a few properties about 10 years ago when I learned the hard way that going into cheaper neighborhoods was not the right strategy for me, so that was basically a strategy correction and it was necessary, but also costly both in terms of dollars and time.

Focus on identifying promising neighborhoods in the north or east bay by leveraging your husband’s contractor network, local real estate agents, and online deal-finding platforms.