Look for a location with low crime, then look for the neighborhoods with the best schools.

Would it generally be a location that tends to have a higher cost of living? 

House hacking is an excellent strategy, especially with the potential to use an FHA loan to secure a property with a low down payment. 

My father is a contractor so we will be able to complete most of the work ourselves while keeping costs low and add equity.

In the future, I’ll factor in contractor costs more.

While it will not reduce the actual cost it will help with the monthly cash flow.I am curious if this was a single-family house converted into a double.

A CPA who specializes in partnership issues can also likely talk through these issues with you.3) Depending on the size of the deal - Keep It Simple - the number of really complex agreements that come across my desk for a $500k property is crazy, and it ends up costing as much to do those tax returns as a comparable $5m deal

Can you give a cost breakdown?  

@Jonathan SniderFannie and Freddie do have LLPA's and the lower the down payment, the higher the cost.

@Cory Prior There are ways of doing low-money down strategies.