Live rent free, and then use most of your money to pay down your debt.

Next year I will be attending University of Texas at Austin and I am looking for guidance on owning a property in Austin with a tenant that pays the rent while I live rent-free so I can pay in-state tuition.

I am looking to house hack and buy a house or 2-4 unit property and have the tenants pay the mortgage and live rent free.

No expenses are deductible on personal days.In this case - The IRS may come and tax you on the rent and disallow you any expenses.On a side note - Allowing a relative to live rent free may require the filing of a gift-tax return if above the annual exclusion.

Cheap locks don't transplant well and a quality lock will stand up to task over many years. 

So I was able to live rent and bill free for 2 years.

Best case scenario you downsize into a duplex or triplex and live “rent free” in one of the units.I don’t know your market BUT the biggest risk I’ve ever seen anyone take is NOT taking any

Im looking at 3 to 4 units  and i know with 2 units i wont live rent free but 3 or 4 should be right

I would say when you let someone live rent free you are donating money to the person but if you send them additional money and they use if for something other than the rent then you are donating the rent and in addition donating cash for them to cover other expenses. 

Other firms tracking rent trends have consistently ranked Sacramento's rent increases at or near the highest in the U.S. in the last couple years, citing a combination of limited housing supply, rising incomes form Bay Area transplants and a surge of apartment property investments as reasons for the surge.Region Business, an advocacy group for local economic development, issued a statement Thursday opposing the potential measure.