Consider building your portfolio and exploring refinancing options.

Here were the results: I have now moved out of the home and I am cash flowing roughly $1k after all things considered (I self-manage).I regret a few things, but feel unbelievably lucky and grateful with how it went (especially with the timing of the purchase and refinancing). 

Since the property has increased in value due to your rehab efforts, you can often refinance for more than what you originally paid, recovering your initial investment.Repeat: After refinancing, you've effectively used none of your own money, but now have equity in a cash-flowing property.

IF you plan on holding on to this long-term, I personally will go with the ARM as I also would have the funds to pay down additional monies later on if there were equity or refinancing issues.

looks like they have a lot of equity ($250,000 or more) and a recently refinanced mortgage of $120,000.  

@Jason Smith you may want to consider moving a few of those loans with comparable current interest rates over into an LLC and refinancing them into a DSCR product.

Even if they refinanced it still has to be cash flow positive (assuming they refinanced during ZIRP).

Since you already have the cash, you can avoid that added cost.Lower Risk: By purchasing outright, you're minimizing your risk and giving yourself time to learn the process without the pressure of loan payments and short-term financing deadlines.Better Refinancing Terms: After you purchase and stabilize the property, you can refinance it with a traditional lender at a lower rate and pull cash out for your next investment.This approach keeps things simple and allows you to focus on learning without the complications of high-interest debt.Let me know if you need more advice!

Let's say that my first house hack using FHA loan was bought for 220k and then once it is refinanced into conventional, I try for another FHA but this time it is a 175K property.

They may offer some refinancing options that make expensive home more affordable by writing a 40+ year loan term with balloon payment at the end.