To that point, you've also brought up things I haven't even considered regarding, separate baths, kitchen sharing, and overall interaction with a potential stranger who would be my tenant.

Awesome to hear that you’re thinking about pulling the trigger on a house hack - it’s easily the best financial decision you will ever make if done correctly.A lot of people on BP will tell you that renting by the room is not a sound investment; that you can’t effectively manage multiple strangers in a household; that you’ll relinquish your privacy/sanity/personal space/landlord status etc etc.As someone who lives with 5 roommates (including my wife + 2 dogs) I can tell you that it’s absolutely not the big bad monster that it’s made out to be.Because you have multiple streams of income in a single property, if a tenant flakes, you still have partial coverage of your mortgage payment - not the case in a traditional rental or “luxury” house-hack.

I'm located in Northern NJ, just outside of NYC where both property values and property taxes are ridiculous so in looking to acquire my 1st property was leaning toward a BRRRR House hack situation of ideally a 4-unit; however, SFR is slightly easier to find better deals (not much better just a bit more affordable) in this area; however, with COVID hitting the area HARD (Hudson/Bergen Counties); will the idea of living with strangers in a SFR still be viable or will this virus make the masses lean towards wanting their own space that much more? 

Better to get solid local legal advice than to solicit advice from random online strangers all over the country who know nothing about your transaction.

So the prospect of them letting a realtor show the home to strangers may be problematic.

Would you offer to hand $100k+ over to some stranger you've never talked to before? 

With a great need for space and desire to share anything together at the moment with a stranger, the same lies true with housing. 

We have no records for the roommate, and we might as well be taking money from a stranger.

As stated I have zero real estate experience, but I'm certainly no stranger to hard work and dedication.   

I have a three bedroom apartment which rents for $1700 ($700, $600, $400) the smaller two bedrooms are moving out, but the one tenant who wants to renew but is having issues finding roommate in this COVID environment, not only are less people moving around but she is also very worries about having 'strangers' move in.