it is technically a real thing but very rare, and there is plenty of historical data out there that shows those who have less skin in the game are at a far greater risk of default by a factor of 5-7x.

But the cost to play that game is higher than the likes of Eugene or Roseburg or Salem.

The real estate game is all about relationships and strategies, and this is one of the most important topics to get right early on!

Every investor has a different game plan.  

Hi @Tim Holt I think in general house hacking is usually a good move because it gets you off the sidelines and into the game with the most favorable financing possible (30 year fixed).There's a lot of value in getting started today vs waiting some undefined number of years until conditions are better, which could be a long time from now, because real estate is a business and the sooner you start actually learning about that business, the better.With all that said, I always recommend that people analyze any potential house hack as a pure investment that they aren't going to live in, because someday they may want to move out and you should know up front (before you commit) whether you're going to be able to do that, or whether you're overpaying and will be stuck in the property unable to move out because it'll be cash flow negative if you do.So you had it exactly right when you wrote, "the property would need to cash flow when I move out and rent out all units."

I love the why and your current game plan.

So I require skin in the game (average is 5% to 15%) to offset this.

It's all fun & games, until someone loses money.

It was those 2022 delivered  projects where I became an accidental landlord that led me to focus more attention on building to researched housing needs rather than simply replicating the inventory other's bring to the market and it's been a game changer for me and my business. 

Why I would agree, it would be ideal to start one ourself but to be profitable at PM it seems to be a numbers game.