I have to laugh when someone tells me something can't be done merely because they haven't done it. 

Money is merely a resource, and if you can replace that resource with others, like "work ethic, computer skills, learning abilities, and financial education" then you can reduce the amount of money you spend.House-hacking is a wonderful way to get into buy and hold real estate investing with a relatively low financial barrier to entry.

Is your reason for looking in PA merely a pricepoint issue?

Kyle,You use the income approach generally, but don't merely look at the in-place income- look at what it could be- and what it would take to get you there, aka a forward-looking pro forma.

@Mitchell JohnsonI merely write a 1 page addendum with the new lease length and rate.

A cap rate is merely one lever in the value formula of: NOI/Cap rate = purchase price.

And if a landlord merely claims the income month to month, how would the IRS know?

Could be an issue.Auto debt is definitely an issue, but as long as unemployment stays low there shouldn't be a huge wave of defaults, merely a slow down in new car purchasing and leasing. 

It has been my experience that the most dangerous of these investors are the ones who have no knowledge and are merely buying something because someone else at the hospital did, and they want to be a hip investor too.

My credit score is around 750, and although I've taken pride in getting it to where it is now, merely 630 a year ago, I am not all that detered by a momentary dip due to loading some major debt onto them for a short time.