Hi @Emily De Leon,It's not the classic definition to house hacking (that usually involves multifamily), but you still have a "tenant" paying for a portion of your primary residence mortgage while allowing you to keep the property and at zero cost to you so, sure - why not. :) As for tax benefits, it gets a little tricky as to how you are claiming the condo on your returns.

We avoid car washes for my clients to buy with NNN tenants.The buildings are more special use and harder to repurpose if business goes dark.A well located building that is a basic box can usually be readapted pretty easily to a bunch of different types of tenants.

Since you found it, this is a great opportunity to renegotiate the price.As investors we get paid to solve problems, this is a classic one and it's relativly simple to fix.

I've called the county recorder too and asked who's name is recored on the mortgage, and this too is a dead end.Any thoughts on how I can track down the owner without the classic answers that I've already tried like sec of state, property tax statement etc.?

@Jon Crosby Your question leads into the classic debate of flip vs. buy and hold.

The classic case was buying an 80% occupied deal in a 95% occupancy market.  

Abandoned properties are being re-purposed and people are the American model for home ownership. 

It is the classic greed vs fear question.

Completely agree with @Jonathan R McLaughlin - sounds like this is a classic scenario of trading cash flow for appreciation. 

The classic "BRRRR" method works better with distressed, older properties, bought under market value.