To answer your title directly, house hacking is entirely worth it and if you're willing to be a landlord it's 100% the best springboard to financial independence.

I got confused with a lot of the answers on this thread so thought I would confirm for you that the debt your partner gets will not be on your credit report and the debt will not negatively affect your DTI on new mortgage applications.

Assessors know who the pita's are, those same assessors have to sit on the board and answer every appeal.

Sorry this isn't really an "answer", but it's something more to think about.

Happy to connect and answer any questions you may have.

Give it a few years and keep learning so when you can answer all the questions that real estate investors ask on here, you'll know you're ready.You mentioned your family. 

If the answer is long time and yes, then San Diego could be a good market. 

No is an answer.

We all know the best sandwich is peanut butter and jelly (or if you are from the northeast its a fluffernutter).To answer your question question about real estate being risky, it is.

The chef can't answer that question.Turnkey rentals, one by one, would take you about 30 years to get to 350k in income.