This month it was supposed to have been paid on the 3rd, then promised on the 10th when I was over there fishing out a rag and metal from their garbage disposal.

I can only have one Homestead exemption and it has to be my main residence.As far as expenses...I know there are unforseen events but we are replacing carpet with new vinyl planks (not glue down), painting interior and exterior, and replacing complete a/c with better, new unit (it had a leak in the coil and is 14 years old).

The metal ones do last longer; however, you are then faced with cleaning them of dust and dirt. 

It's a 4 Br/1 bath 2 story house with a good metal roof.

Some very smart money people (billionaires) are buying precious metals like crazy, and that's not a good sign for what they think the value of the dollar will be.

The building was build in the 40th and maintained most of its original beauties: red tile roof which is leaking and the roof support shows signs of giving up, original electrical system without ground wires, rotted floor joist, original metal windows.There are 8 units in the apartment and I paid about $37k per unit.  

Asking $ 850,000 Final offer excepted $650,000 Build in 2009 , all stucco , and glass front ,no metal .

You will find that repairs include basic motors, capacitors, solenoids, service calls (and potentially service contracts) etc which would account for your repairs / maintenance cost and then sometimes, they go completely out and you end up replacing compressors or worse, evaporator coil (which carries a cost of 1000-2000+ because of the labor involved) or the entire system.  

I was in mine here for over a year and met all kinds of people at all stages of investing, as well as vendors, lenders, etc.As for your house hacking idea, which is a fantastic one, there are loans you get as a first time homeowner (FHA) and loans you can get specifically to house hack.

A steel fabrication tenant will need to comply with runoff of cleaning materials and heavy metals, safety issues with welding gases, OSHA requirements applicable to the structure (safety rails, overhead beam loads that are part of the building structure and used for cranes and lifts).