Yes, you do get income on the other side, but the prices have bumped up so with interest rates and less inventory to buy, the net income is much less than a few years ago.You can still do it, you just have to factor that in and expect negative cash flow while you live there and then see how good it will be when you leave in a year and do it again.

We're seriously considering Pittsburgh as the destination spot (multitude of factors), but I'm liking the numbers from an investment standpoint. 

The city has good macro economic factors and a strong economy - I looked for cities that were at least better than the national average when it came to population growth, wage growth, median sales price growth, etc 2.

Due to the geographical factors that make Reno/Sparks fairly locked in, and the lack of multifamily zoning in Reno. 

When house-hacking with 5% down, returns on cash invested could be huge when you factor in the appreciation gains.

Now there are a lot of factors that can come into play but I'm not completely sure what you're asking here.

You only need to get around 4-5% when you include leverage to equal those returns you cited and then factor in tax advantages and you are exceeding those returns. 

Several things to consider: 1) One of the main purposes of segmenting your assets into separate LLC's is so that your personal net worth or equity in other business ventures or properties isn't exposed, so unless you have a high net worth or a lot of equity in a property, it might not be worth bothering going the separate LLC route, especially when it restricts your financing of the property.  2) Most any commercial financing you get from a local bank for a small property is going to have recourse anyhow and require that you sign a personal guarantee, so you're still personally on the hook to the bank even in the case of a commercial loan.  3) If you're a newer investor and buying a deal that's tight on cash flow, or if you don't have a ton of cash sitting in the bank already, your greatest risk factor as an investor is your investment failing economically due to poor financing terms or not operating the investment properly, not because you get sued. 

Quote from @Luis Pereiro: Quote from @Jay Hinrichs: what position that's an important factor.. bare land notes generally sell for a 20 to 30% yield. 

This amount will be a direct cost of refinancing that you'll need to factor into your overall analysis.3.