I'm looking to purchase a 2-4 unit in northern Illinois, the Freeport area seems to have tons of affordable inventory.

Is there any way you can house hack and buy a 2-4 unit...live in one unit and rent out the others? 

As you can imagine capital starts drying up quickly "trapping" 20% into each unit.

If they bought a single family or 2 to 4 unit in Texas it was at least 5 years ago.  

Look at other comparable rentals on Zillow and see how your unit stacks up. 

I own over 150 units in the Pittsburgh market and work as an agent here as well so I've seen plenty of investors succeed and plenty of others fail.

The great thing about them is that if one unit becomes vacant, the other units can still help cover your mortgage.

Some common paths are single-family rentals, multifamily units, house flipping, or short-term rentals.

You can always start off by house hacking meaning you live in one UNIT or ROOM and renting out the other vacant units/rooms to offset your monthly mortgage payment.There are several ways to run and make sure you are maximizing your rental income while keeping your living expense as low as possible.

You can put as low as 3.5%-5% down payment and rent out the vacant units to offset your mortgage as we all call it Househack @Carlos Valencia @Albert Bui