You can also house hack by getting roommates to help you pay for your mortgage.What we, your beloved readers, don't know is whether it's a good deal or not.   

It sounds more like you're planning on getting roommates.

Things to know but I hope never come up for you is domestic violence laws apply regardless of relationship, even just roommates cops should enforce them but they don't always do so.I expected some negativity from other units but haven't seen any. 

On the flip side, I could room in an apartment with a roommate for $900-1000 and save the extra cash for a year to put into another property.

Can take your time on the rehab, do some of it yourself, build your contractor network, get familiar with rehab work and costs, not have to live with roommates (house hack), get owner occupied financing, and get tax free gain on sale at the end of it. 

I use Cozy for my rentals and it's very easy to use for renters and landlords.For house hacking I am probably less of an "official landlord" to my roommate.

All real estate is an investment, even the ones you live in without roommates.

If having roommates is not an option, you could still utilize this strategy with a small multi-family property.Alternatively, a 2BD MTR might be the sweet spot for you. 

The City of LA is short housing and having roommates is common.

In the upcoming year, we are getting roommates to help with expenses while continuing occupying as primary residence.