I've done this on one house in order to cut costs - since then, I've added a meter with the utility company but it's a good workaround for the short term. 

And addressing my item #1 comment, almost always, when a "distressed" homeowner is approached, they initially are grateful to have the loan brought current, but before long they forget the circumstances they were in and you become the bad guy that stole their house.

The house was flooded to the tune of $70,000 in repairs. 

They are a corporate housing company.

Your biggest issue is that $50k may not let you get a nice house and have any reserves.

Quote from @Charles J Sabo: This will be huge for house hackers out there. 95%LTV on 2-4 unit properties.

This amounts to lost opportunity because if you had purchased RE, at the closing it can start producing return. 5) ADUs detract from the existing structure whether this is privacy, a garage, or just yard space. 6) this is related to number 1, but there are many more buyers looking to purchase homes for their family than there are RE investors looking to purchase small unit count properties.

to your point, if you save up so that you're in a strong financial position, house hack a solid duplex in a decent neighborhood, make smart decisions, and hold it indefinitely, you'll be fine.conversely, if you have $0 and somehow start out with a risky flip, or borrow $20K and spend it all on a magic mentoring program, or buy a terrible property in a neighborhood you've never been to, you may not be fine.

I have done it successfully on my last 2 buildouts, maybe 3, but only because I was able to acquire the properties at a very low price and I did all the work in-house (myself and some hired hands on staff).

Hopefully you already worked this out.Aside from HML, there's also an option to do a live-in-flip, where you live in the house for a year and renovate it slowly.