I am presently paying below market rate for a pretty nice condo in a less than stellar community, so the major motivation for my first house hack is to escape the hood.

You can essentially let a home sit from spring to fall without any major issues coming up due to the weather.

The majority of discrimination complaints are BS.After reading the literature on section 8 it appears as though landlords do not have the option of not accepting section 8 in your state although that dosn't seem right.

Now, out of our 15-20+ deals/mo, we're doing 30-40% flips and passing the rest on without major rehab via wholesale, wholetail, As-is resale, etc.  

Anything else is a major red flag imo.

This is one major reason I always caution people about going with big national marketing companies who don't actually live and work in the markets they sell....but I digress. 

If it isn’t clearly on your property, you shouldn’t have to pay for it bit I’d also weigh the risk of having it fall and doing major damage versus just chipping in a bit to get it handled before any damage is done.

If you do not know what you are doing I would strongly recommend hiring a lawyer and be pro active in removing this person from your property.I believe you are facing a major problem, I could be wrong, but I would not take the chance if lying on your application is grounds to evict.

So, like I said, if you've found your "forever home" and want to lock in interest, have someone else pay down the majority of your mortgage, etc. then I think it's a viable strategy.Just realize you're buying for "want" and "emotion" and you'll be fine. 

If you're looking for either land to build on, a tear down, or a major fixer upper, where do you look besides the MLS and craigslist?