It’s exciting to hear your perspective and how you prioritize trust and professionalism in your lending practices!

As mentioned elsewhere, breakeven on cash flow is not the same as break even for taxes.Let's make some assumptions:Rental income = $1000Mortgage payment = $400 - but $300 is interest and $100 is principalOther expenses (repairs, advertising, utilities, etc) = $600Depreciation = $250The above scenario creates a break even from a cash flow perspective, however the tax scenario looks like this:Rental income minus the mortgage interest (principal is not deductible) minus the other expenses minus depreciation looks like this:1000-300-600-250 = $150 LossIf your income is over $150,000, then you cannot deduct that loss, but you can roll it over to future years. 

Hey Rae, Not on here often but jumped on to see your post that I think i can bring value to from a Lenders perspective. 

Will the capital gains in this scenario be considered passive income from an IRS perspective ?

From a credit perspective, house hacking also helps you build strong cash flow, which can make it easier to secure financing for future deals.Additionally, if you're targeting high-appreciation markets, you could also look into cash-out refinancing down the line to pull equity and fund additional investments.

Hey Jake thanks for the feedback and providing a valuable perspective when consdiering this opportunity. 

I was able to give him my perspective and I got to hear his.  

How long must you wait before being able to rent out a primary residence property from a lending perspective?

So my perspective is probably not mainstream or what the other SFR landlords on BP think of it. but everything takes work..

Markets with sub 8% cap rates, generally the cash you need to raise is going to be true equity and since the cash flow would be too tight from a DSCR perspective, you have to put down way more than 20%.